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Judge On NSA Case Cites 9/11 Report, But It Doesn’t Actually Support His Ruling

By Justin Elliott/ProPublica

Update Dec. 28, 2013: In a new decision in support of the NSA’s phone metadata surveillance program, U.S. district court Judge William Pauley cites an intelligence failure involving the agency in the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks. But the judge’s cited source, the 9/11 Commission Report, doesn’t actually include the account he gives in the ruling. What’s more, experts say the NSA could have avoided the pre-9/11 failure even without the metadata surveillance program.

We previously explored the key incident in question, involving calls made by hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar from California to Yemen, in a story we did over the summer, which you can read below.

In his decision, Pauley writes: “The NSA intercepted those calls using overseas signals intelligence capabilities that could not capture al-Mihdhar’s telephone number identifier. Without that identifier, NSA analysts concluded mistakenly that al-Mihdhar was overseas and not in the United States.”

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Posted on December 30, 2013

Obama Finally Lets Clarence Aaron Go Home

By Cora Currier/ProPublica

President Obama has ordered an early release from prison for Clarence Aaron, who has spent 20 years there, hoping for mercy.

Aaron’s commutation is one of eight crack cocaine-related sentences commuted last week. Obama said the sentences were meted out under an “unfair system” that among other things featured a vast disparity between crack and powder cocaine cases.

The White House ordered a new review of Aaron’s petition last year after ProPublica and the Washington Post reported that the government’s pardon attorney, Ronald Rodgers, had misrepresented Aaron’s case to President George W. Bush.

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Posted on December 27, 2013

Presidential Panel To NSA: Stop Undermining Encryption

By Justin Elliott/ProPublica

The National Security Agency should not undermine encryption standards that are designed to protect the privacy of communications, the panel of experts appointed by President Obama to review NSA surveillance recommended in a report released last week.

The recommendation, among the strongest of the many suggested changes laid out by the panel, comes several months after ProPublica, the Guardian, and the New York Times reported that the NSA has successfully worked to undercut encryption. The story was based on a set of documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Encryption technologies are supposed to render intercepted communications unreadable. But the NSA conducted what one secret memo described as an “aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies.”

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Posted on December 22, 2013

Deadline? What Deadline? The Obamacare Sign-Up Dates Keep Moving

By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

You aren’t alone if you’re confused about the deadline to sign up for coverage on the health insurance marketplaces. The deadline is – and has been – in flux.

When the process began in October, consumers using HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace for 36 states, had until Dec. 15 to pick a plan if they wanted coverage that begins Jan. 1. But because of the well-publicized glitches with the website, federal officials last month extended that deadline until Dec. 23.

Then, last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sought to delay another key deadline, the date by which consumers have to pay their first month’s premium. As it stood, payments had to be received before coverage began (so, by Dec. 31), but HHS asked insurers to be flexible.

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Posted on December 20, 2013

Here Comes The Story Of Barrett Brown

By Leamington Books

A song for jailed American journalist Barrett Brown, to the tune of “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan. Please help Barrett’s legal defense if you are able. In doing so you will be positively affecting the outcome of an important case. #RightToLink

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Posted on December 19, 2013

The NSA Is Coming To Town

By The ACLU

You better watch out,
You better not Skype,
You better log out,
Yeah, you better not type,
The NSA is coming to town.

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Posted on December 18, 2013

The Ironic George Ryan

By Ed Hammer

Last Sunday was a day full of irony. NBC Chicago reported that U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush invited George Ryan, a convicted felon and dishonored Illinois governor, to speak at a service at Rush’s church honoring the recently deceased international hero of human rights, Nelson Mandela. Both Ryan and Mandela spent time in prison. Mandela spent 27 years locked up for seeking justice for the citizens of South Africa. Ryan spent five years in a federal facility for obstructing justice, but that is not the irony I am thinking of.

Yes, Ryan has paid his debt, and in the spirit of Mandela, one should be forgiving to those who have caused one harm, but this is Illinois. It is not unusual for our convicted politicians to rise to a level of celebrity while others continue business as usual.

Take, for instance, Ryan’s newfound friend. Last week the Sun-Times reported that he sponsored a million-dollar grant for a technology project in the Englewood neighborhood. The project never got off the ground and now the money is unaccounted for. Doesn’t Rush have some duty to to assure that the money is or was responsibly spent? To me, what is ironic is that Rush invited a convicted felon known for abusing taxpayer money to speak at Rush’s church so soon after the Sun-Times report.

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Posted on December 17, 2013

The [Bobby Rush] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Updated on 12/16 as indicated.

“In 2000, in the midst of a bruising but ultimately successful Democratic primary campaign against then-state Sen. Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) launched a nonprofit with a stated mission of reviving the violence-plagued Englewood neighborhood,” the Better Government Association reports.

“Called the Rebirth of Englewood Community Development Corp., the group soon found a generous benefactor in the telecommunications industry: SBC – now called AT&T – donated $1 million toward the creation of a “technology center” that would provide advanced computer training to residents and serve as a small-business incubator in a community with few other entrepreneurial opportunities.

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Posted on December 13, 2013

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