By Theodoric Meyer/ProPublica

Authorized by Congress, the CIA has started sending weapons to Syrian rebels. But under a legal definition of terrorism adopted by the U.S. government after the Sept. 11 attacks, those same rebel groups are considered terrorist organizations.
The designation could prevent some of the more than 2 million refugees who have fled Syria from coming to the United States, even if they haven’t actually taken up arms against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Groups that appear on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations have long been banned from entering the U.S. But two antiterrorism laws, the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, also bar members of armed rebel groups that aren’t specifically designated as terrorist organizations.
The provisions, sometimes known as terrorism bars, apply to all armed rebel groups – even ones the U.S. is actively supporting.

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Posted on September 30, 2013

Curated By The Beachwood High-Speed Trading Affairs Desk

Animated for your enjoyment.

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Posted on September 26, 2013

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

At the 24th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, six major privacy NGOs, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warned nations of the urgent need comply with international human rights law to protect their citizens from the dangers posed by mass digital surveillance.
The groups launched the “International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance” at a side event on privacy hosted by the governments of Austria, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The text is available in 30 languages.

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Posted on September 24, 2013

By Voices for Illinois Children

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau confirmed that income inequality in the United States remains at record levels. In 2012, the top 5 percent of households received 22 percent of all income in the country – a share that has climbed steadily over the past three decades. Prominent economists have shown that income inequality is now greater than it was in 1928, the eve of the Great Depression.
An important new documentary, Inequality for All, explores the causes and consequences of growing economic inequality. Opening on Friday, September 27, Inequality for All features Robert Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. The film won the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the Traverse City Film Festival.
Trailer:

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Posted on September 23, 2013

By Cora Currier/ProPublica

The U.S. spent roughly $25 billion last year on what’s loosely known as security assistance – a term that can cover everything from training Afghan security forces to sending Egypt F-16 fighter jets to equipping Mexican port police with radiation scanners.
The spending, which has soared in the past decade, can be hard to trace, funneled through dozens of sometimes overlapping programs across multiple agencies.
There’s also evidence it’s not always wisely spent. In Afghanistan, for instance, the military bought $771 million worth of aircraft this year for Afghan pilots, most of whom still don’t know how to fly them.

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Posted on September 18, 2013

By The Beachwood Top Ten Affairs Desk

10. Hired Truck contract came through.
9. Suffering PTSD from watching bin Laden raid in uncomfortable chair.
8. Can make more money off the public sector from the private sector.
7. Just found out the governor’s mansion is in Springfield.
6. Upcoming report will show he uses PEDs.

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Posted on September 17, 2013

By Jeff Larson and Justin Elliott/ProPublica

Following revelations about the NSA’s covert influence on computer security standards, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, announced last week it is revisiting some of its encryption standards.
But in a little-noticed footnote, NIST went a step further, saying it is “strongly” recommending against even using one of the standards.
The institute sets standards for everything from the time to weights to computer security that are used by the government and widely adopted by industry.
As ProPublica, the New York Times, and the Guardian reported two weeks ago, documents provided by Edward Snowden suggest that the NSA has heavily influenced the standard, which has been used around the world.

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Posted on September 15, 2013

Since 2009, The Richest Of The Rich Have Captured 95% Of All Income Gains

“If you feel you’re falling behind in the income race, it’s not just your imagination. The wealth gap between the top 1% and the bottom 99% in the U.S. is as wide as it’s been in nearly 100 years, a new study finds,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Put another way by The Week: “For the first time since the government started collecting the relevant data in 1917, the wealthiest 10 percent (earning at least $114,000 a year in 2012 dollars) is earning more than half – 50.4 percent – of U.S. income.”
An historic presidency indeed.
“Two months ago, President Obama declared that reversing income inequality must be Washington’s ‘highest priority,'” MSNBC’s Ned Resnikoff notes, “but the issue has subsequently dropped off the map again.”
Well, it’s not like Obama hasn’t had five years to prioritize his economic agenda.

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Posted on September 12, 2013

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Five new groups – including civil-rights lawyers, medical-privacy advocates and Jewish social-justice activists – have joined a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against the National Security Agency over the unconstitutional collection of bulk telephone call records. With today’s amended complaint, EFF now represents 22 entities in alleging that government surveillance under Section 215 of the Patriot Act violates Americans’ First Amendment right to freedom of association.
The five entities joining the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California are: Acorn Active Media, the Charity and Security Network, the National Lawyers Guild, Patient Privacy Rights and The Shalom Center. They join an already diverse coalition of groups representing interests including gun rights, environmentalism, drug-policy reform, human rights, open-source technology, media reform and religious freedom.

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Posted on September 11, 2013

By Jeff Larson and Justin Elliott/ProPublica

Citing concerns about linking to classified material, Johns Hopkins University asked a professor Monday morning to remove a blog post discussing last week’s revelations about the NSA’s efforts to break encryption.
The post had linked to government documents published by ProPublica, the Guardian, and the New York Times.

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Posted on September 10, 2013