Police State

US intelligence services carried out 231 offensive cyber-attacks in 2011 according to NSA documents leaked by Snowden.

"U.S. intelligence services are making routine use around the world of government-built malware that differs little in function from the “advanced persistent threats” that U.S. officials attribute to China. The principal difference, U.S. officials told The Post, is that China steals U.S. corporate secrets for financial gain."
"The implants that TAO creates are intended to persist through software and equipment upgrades, to copy stored data, “harvest” communications and tunnel into other connected networks. This year TAO is working on implants that “can identify select voice conversations of interest within a target network and exfiltrate select cuts,” or excerpts, according to one budget document. In some cases, a single compromised device opens the door to hundreds or thousands of others."

The NSA is making the internet worse than useless. It's making it counter-productive. The NSA is dragging civilization back decades.

Much like women frequently lie about rape, they also frequently lie about being pregnant.

Economy

Poverty effectively makes people dumber because they spend so much effort worrying about money.

A woman writing for Slate of all places exposes the lie about the gender wage gap.

"You know that “women make 77 cents to every man’s dollar” line you’ve heard a hundred times? It’s not true."

Slate might have its leftist card revoked.

It's no surprise that the Large Hadron was a bubble activity.

Tax and Spend

Ohio government paid a consultant $176,000 to recommend the state cut the grass along highways less often to save money.

Health Care

Fish including tuna is widely mislabeled.

Chemicals are shrinking boys' genitals.

Evidence that people used plants as medicines 77,000 years ago.

War

UN inspectors leave Syria.

"An Associated Press crew saw the UN personnel enter Lebanon from Syria through the Masnaa border crossing and then drive in a 13-car convoy to the Beirut airport. After four days of on-site inspections, the team wrapped up its investigation Friday into the suspected chemical weapons attack on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. The experts take with them blood and urine samples from victims as well as soil samples from the affected areas for examination in laboratories in Europe. "

At least they collected some evidence, but that evidence can't determine who used chemical weapons, if they find anybody did.

"While Obama has long been wary of U.S. military involvement in the conflict, the administration on Friday forcefully made its case for action against Syria in the wake of last week's events outside Damascus. It accused the Assad regime of carrying out what it says was a chemical attack on Aug. 21 that killed at least 1,429 people — far more than previous estimates — including more than 400 children. "

Doctors without Borders identified 355 victims. Those numbers are nuts.

"The Syrian government said administration claims were "flagrant lies" akin to faulty Bush administration assertions before the Iraq invasion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. A Foreign Ministry statement read on state TV late Friday said that "under the pretext of protecting the Syrian people, they are making a case for an aggression that will kill hundreds of innocent Syrian civilians." "

I don't think the comparison to Iraq is particularly accurate. The US has been funding and arming al Qaeda rebels in Syria for two years. Bush never did that in Iraq.

Comparison of the supposed intelligence confirming Assad used chemical weapons to Colin Powell's report that Saddam Hussein was using mobile chemical weapons factories.

Putin disputes US claims.

"Mr Putin said it would be "utter nonsense" for Syria's government to provoke opponents with such attacks."

No kidding.

The war on Syria has been long planned.

"Attacking Syria has been the talk in Washington for years, all the way back to Bush II’s infamous "Axis of Evil" speech. The current (un)civil war started back in March 2011, out of the failed attempt to topple the government through another "Arab Spring" revolution, organized by the American Empire. As in Libya, the response to failure was escalation into an armed rebellion. "
"Leaked documents reveal that a plan to attack Syria was developed back in 2011. The Empire and its rebel clients have been looking for ways to create a pretext for intervention ever since."

I wonder if Obama is building support or losing it by delaying.

Obama answered that question by emasculating himself, asking Congress to give him permission to attack. Are you kidding me? This hasn't happened since FDR asked Congress to declare War on Japan after Pearl Harbor. I've written about how Obama was between a rock and a hard place. This is the proof.

"When Obama said he wanted to ask Congress for a vote, some of his advisers dissented. Officials wouldn't say which participants argued against Obama's proposal.
After a two-hour debate, Obama's team agreed to support Obama's decision, officials said. So Obama went upstairs and called the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to inform them of his about-face. He also notified French President Francois Hollande.
By mid-afternoon, Obama emerged in a steamy White House Rose Garden, surprising lawmakers, reporters and the public with news of his plan.
"I'm ready to act in the face of this outrage," Obama said. "Today I'm asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation.""

Obama cut off his own balls, then the Associated Press fed them to him.

"Then Obama and Biden left the White House by motorcade to play a round of golf."

This is the most significant portrait yet of the rampant corruption inherent in the state.

Congress is in no hurry to vote.

"It may be 10 days or more before Congress votes on whether to approve use of military force against Syria."

I love how USA Today tries to boost Obama for this:

"President Obama heeded the call of members of Congress who were demanding a vote on military action on Syria, but Congress will not rush back to Washington to take that vote."

Obama is so wise to heed the call of Congress the same way he did on Libya. And Yemen. And Obamacare. Oh, wait. God bless USA Today for saying what is really going on.

"Obama and congressional leaders may well need the time to make the case to Congress to get enough members to support military action in Syria. Members of both parties have expressed skepticism about whether it's justified."

The American people don't want the US to start another war, this time with Syria, so Obama is unwilling to take the political hit by ordering an attack. So he passed the buck to Congress. The Republicans tend to be the warmongers, so he wants them to take the hit. Obama's in a lose-lose situation, so he's trying to cut his losses.

The rebels are disappointed with the delay. I bet they are.

Blame it on the ghosts of Iraq. I don't think it's that simple, but that's a good thing. The Syrian war is much more duplicitous and Assad is much less evil that Hussein.

Another report that the Saudis supplied chemical weapons to al Qaeda rebels which led to this attack. Many supporting links.

Congressional approval is not the important issue. This is an issue of right and wrong. Stealing money from people to attack others, no matter how evil they are, is always wrong.

Attacking Syria would not be an act of justice because they US has been fighting the war through evil proxies. This is the major difference between war in Syria and invading Iraq.

Syrians go about their daily business undeterred by the threat of US attacks. Heroic.

North Korea blames US for nuclear provocation, leading to cancellation of visit from US envoy.

"An unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in remarks carried by state media late Saturday that his country intended to allow King's visit for talks on Bae even though the U.S. and South Korea were conducting annual military drills.
But he said the U.S. "beclouded the hard-won atmosphere of humanitarian dialogue in a moment" by allegedly infiltrating B-52H strategic bombers into the sky above the peninsula during the exercises. He called it "the most blatant nuclear blackmail against us.""

I wouldn't doubt it.

Freedom of Speech

Feds seek jail time for people who teach how to defeat a lie detector test.

Local

500 lose power.

Education

Chicago schools to teach sex education to kindergartners because Obama wants it.

War on Drugs

US busts 80 year old weight lifter for using steroids. I thought steroids were supposed to be bad for you. Government is bad for you.

Global Warming and Energy

No Atlantic hurricane by August for the first time in eleven years.

England experienced its coldest spring since 1891. Despite this, England is carrying out dumb policy.

"Despite what is happening to their climate, the UK is persisting with a project to convert their largest coal-fired power station, Drax in North Yorkshire, to burning woodchips to be imported from the United States. This is an attempt to placate the gods of climate at a capital cost for the conversion of £700 million ($1,070 million). This is laughable and very tragic at the same time. The whole circus will end in tears."

And deaths.

Danish newspaper warns of global cooling.

Here's the article I've been looking for on global cooling. Last August, based on the performance of solar cycle 24 to that point, the author predicted global cooling would begin in the second half of 2013.

Japanese researchers predicted global cooling in April 2012.

Russians predicted global cooling in April 2013.

A bunch of stories about lack of sunspots causing global cooling.

Misc

Government employee Neil deGrass Tyson claims private enterprise cannot lead space exploitation.

"Tyson said on a recent video podcast, 'It's not possible. Space is dangerous. It's expensive. There are unquantified risks. Combine all of those under one umbrella; you cannot establish a free market capitalization of that enterprise.'"

Stick to astrophysics, Tyson.

Pictures of solar eclipse from Mars.

Police State

Prosecutors team up with girl who lied about being raped to destroy the life of a top NFL prospect. She finally recanted. I doubt the prosecutor will ever apologize. This could have been avoided if the accuser had been subjected to a lie detector test. I think all accusers for all crimes should be subjected to a lie detector test, but since we know that half of all rape accusations are false, it should at least be mandatory for all rape accusations.

In another hit to our economy from NSA spying, India bans government from using US email services for official emails.

Study finds criminal justice system creates incentives for false convictions. Of course it does. This is on purpose.

Government rejects request of Microsoft and Google to disclose FISA data requests.

Judge acknowledges oppressive nature of No Fly List, ruling to come.

German police raid home and kidnap children because they were being home-schooled.

War

Kerry makes case for unilateral war with Syria.

"In an apparent declaration that the US was willing to forge ahead with military support with minimal international backing, the White House said it would be guided by "the best interests of the United States"."

That would be fine if it was in the best interests of the America people, but it's not.

"An attack could happen as soon as Saturday, when UN weapons inspectors are due to leave Syria, after their mission in the country was apparently cut short amid expectations of an attack."

That's convenient.

"According to an NBC poll, almost 80% of Americans believe Obama should get congressional authorisation before using force in Syria, while 50% were completely opposed to a military strike."

That sounds like the public has rapidly moved in favor of attack.

Members of the military resist attacking Syria.

Pakistan newspaper, no US newspapers, reports on the fears of Syrians.

Reports claim rebels used chemical weapons supplied by Saudis.

"However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.
“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”
Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.
“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”"

The false flag gives the warmongers their war.

"More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government. "

No surprise there.

"Although Saudi Arabia has officially maintained that it supported more moderate rebels, the newspaper reported that “funds and arms were being funneled to radicals on the side, simply to counter the influence of rival Islamists backed by Qatar.”"

Interesting factions.

"But rebels interviewed said Prince Bandar is referred to as “al-Habib” or ‘the lover’ by al-Qaida militants fighting in Syria."

Friends of the CIA.

US claims it knew about the attack three days in advance, but did nothing.

In a story about Russian forces countering US forces near Syria, Russian official describes US policy in the Middle East.

""The West handles the Islamic world the way a monkey handles a grenade," Rogozin tweeted Wednesday. "

That's good.

Even Bloomberg acknowledges that the Syrian rebels are affiliated with al Qaeda.

BBC columnist subtly scolds British Parliament for rejecting Obama's war on Syria.

"If Britain can't deliver, it will leave some in the US asking "what's so special?""

Shame on those people who didn't want to start a war. Maybe he's jealous of France, which plans to follow Obama.

This is supposedly the first time Parliament has overruled a British ruler in a drive for war since Parliament overruled King George and granted US colonists independence in 1782. This is a big deal in Britain because Parliament claimed the power to veto wars. Britain is going in the opposite direction of the US, where Congress has abdicated the power to declare war.

Al Qaeda bombing people in Iraq is bad, but al Qaeda bombing people in Syria is good.

Veterans' claims neglected in Ohio.

Politics

Internet dating is supposedly enabling people of like political viewpoints to get together, and our rulers want to ban that.

Local

Local rulers prefer union to non-union workers for racino. Duh.

Federal Reserve

I don't know if people reporting that economic growth will cause the Fed to slow buying of bonds are stupid or evil. Unlike most government functions, the Fed is incredibly secret and misunderstood. For good reason. Nobody would allow blatant theft of their money through counterfeiting.

Immigration

Mexicans are claiming asylum to enter the US.

"A report from the Mexican newspaper El Universal states that the number of asylum claims by Mexican nationals in fiscal year 2013 so far has jumped 260% over the entire year of 2012."

They're going to regret coming here.

Economy

Another glaring economic fallacy, this time regarding fast food workers.

"Not only are relatively few of them teenagers looking for some pocket money while attending school, but the number of adults working in low-paying part-time jobs against their wishes is rapidly growing."

These people haven't been enslaved into working in jobs against their will. Everybody would rather be a CEO and make millions a year, but that takes skills.

How is it that these fast food employees who don't show up to work are protected?

"Even though they're not in unions, fast-food workers who take part in strikes are generally protected from retaliation by employers. Federal labor law gives all workers the right to engage in "protected concerted activities" to complain about wages, working conditions or other terms of employment.
"It's always been understood that people who fall under this concerted activity umbrella are protected as long as they are protesting not only on their own behalf but on behalf of others as well," said Robert Kaiser, a St. Louis labor law attorney."

This is insane. If they don't work, fire them.

Another glaring economic fallacy about how self-driving cars kill jobs.

Labor participation rate reaches 34 year low.

Sports

NFL reaches agreement to pay former players $765 million in concussion lawsuit. Good for those players for getting something. The NFL gets to admit no liability, and the money is a drop in the bucket to the league. Now that this big pool of money is out there, I bet claims on it explode. I bet we discover pretty quickly this money is way too low to meet the future needs of the players. Now let's play some football.

Tax and Spend

The Fed and government debt.

"the enormous, bankrupting national debt has mysteriously stabilized, at $16.738 trillion, for the last few months in a row, probably connected to it being obviously MORE than the Congressionally-mandated $16.699 trillion debt limit.
And I’m supposed to believe that this static-yet-enormous amount of debt is for real, despite large and continuous creations of currency and credit by the evil Federal Reserve so that the selfsame evil Federal Reserve can use the currency and credit to buy more government debt, to the tune of $9.55 billion three weeks ago, $29 billion two weeks ago week, and a whopping $39 billion last week?
At this point my heart is beating noticeably faster, teeth grinding harder, and I’m actually hyperventilating after noting that the Federal Reserve bought, outright, a tidy $782 billion in U.S. government debt in the last twelve months. This is 23 percent of the entire monetary base!"

That's less than $85 billion a month which would be $1020 billion a year.

"It turns out, I am sorry to say, that it’s a trick.  Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, wrote to John Boehner as Speaker of the House, to tell him that the Treasury was using “the standard set of extraordinary measures” that would allow the Treasury to continue to borrow and spend at a rate of $4 billion a day, but arrange to keep it off the books.
Ergo, not a penny of it will show up on the Daily Treasury Statement."

Must be nice.

"Then I happened to read that Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, casually figures that the Treasury is not reporting its exploding debt because it is using “an accounting device,” which is apparently OK with Bernanke because it will give the up-against-the-debt-ceiling Treasury — get this! — “some extra head room.” "

That accounting device has a name: corruption. This essay is hilarious.

Another report that Treasury Secretary Lew is lying about the on budget debt, the ceiling of which passed months ago. The BBC tells it like it is:

"This warning is silly. The U.S. government has obviously been over the limit ever since late May. The world knows this. "

But the American people don't, and they don't read the BBC, so the government gets away with lying and lawlessness.

"CNSNews.com) – The Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service (FMS), which publishes both the federal government’s official Daily Treasury Statement and its official Monthly Treasury Statement, is reporting that in July the federal government ran a deficit of $98 billion but that the federal government’s debt remained exactly $16,699,396,000,000 for the entire month.The FMS said that the deficit went up $98 billion ($97,594,000,000) in the Monthly Treasury Statment for July, which it released on Monday.
At the same time, the FMS said the debt stayed at exactly $16,699,396,000,000 in its Daily Treasury Statements, which are published every business day. The Daily Treasury Statements show the daily value of the federal government debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress."

Americans don't care about that either.
Lack of money causes Detroit to stop issuing birth and death certificates.

Global Warming and Energy

Climatism or global warming alarmism is the most prominent recent example of science being coopted to serve a political agenda. True. That's why its proponents are pseudo-scientists - political activists wrapping themselves in the trappings of science - not scientists following the scientific method.

Sad perspective from the great 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Obama writes two more executive orders to disarm the American people.

War

Russia sends more warships to the Mediterranean to counter US warships targeting Syria.

"However, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a high-ranking representative of the naval command who said the changes to the country's forces in the region were not linked to the current tensions over Syria and called them "a planned rotation." "

That's hard to believe. This is getting stupider and stupider.

No war with Syria yet, but the march continues.

Intelligence not a slam dunk.

"A report by the Office of the Director for National Intelligence outlining that evidence against Syria includes a few key caveats - including acknowledging that the U.S. intelligence community no longer has the certainty it did six months ago of where the regime's chemical weapons are stored, nor does it have proof Assad ordered chemical weapons use, according to two intelligence officials and two more U.S. officials."

Oops.

Now intelligence admits they don't know who used chemical weapons, if anybody. This might end up as the biggest warmongering boondoggle failure in history.

Claim that fear of a retaliatory cyber-attack is causing delay on attack. Maybe that attack on the New York Times got government's attention.

France changes tune, requesting diplomatic solution.

Obama is between several rocks and several hard places. The neo-cons want war, but the people don't. He drew a red line, and intelligence says Syria crossed it, but there are caveats. Russia is moving ships into the Med. Iran and Syria promise retaliation, and they can deliver. So Obama is considering a "shot across the bow."

"President Barack Obama promised Wednesday that any U.S. military strike at Syria would be a “shot across the bow” that avoids seeing America pulled into “any kind of open-ended conflict.”"

That's ridiculous. Each step leads to escalation.

I'm skeptical that Boehner can do anything to stop Obama's warmongering. I am hopeful that polls can stop him.

British parliament vetoes any attack on Syria.Despite the vote, the RAF sends fighter to Cyprus in preparation for an attack.

Info on the Syrian Electronic Army. Wow. Apparently the rebels backed by western warmongers will have to execute a better false flag attack. This is a major victory for the people.

Al Qaeda links are the problem? They should be.

The case for war against Syria is falling apart because the people don't want it.

"Initially, we were told the US had incontrovertible proof the regime of Bashar al-Assad was responsible for attacking the rebel town of Ghouta with chemical weapons, and that the substance involved was undoubtedly sarin gas. Outrage followed, with news of an impending US strike supposedly scheduled to occur on Thursday or Friday at the latest. However, that appears to have been put on hold as a backlash over the rush to war gathers steam. British lawmakers put the kibosh on the UK’s plans to join the American bombardment as a full-scale backbencher revolt threatened the Tory-Liberal Democrat government and the Labor Party balked. In the end, Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to promise not one but two votes in Parliament before the Brits lend "direct" support to the Obama administration’s war plans. It didn’t matter: they voted the war down anyway."

This might be the biggest victory for the people against the government in my lifetime.

"Growing skepticism was given added impetus when the source of that "signals intelligence" cited in media reports – which purportedly proved the Syrian government’s responsibility for the attack – was revealed. The Israelis have been trying to drag us into war with Syria and its ally Iran since before the invasion of Iraq: that they are now wielding a "smoking gun" to trigger that conflict is beyond suspicious. Not that they would ever lie to us, you understand, or even exaggerate …. But still: is this the best the War Party can do?"

It's the Israelis. Not like they have an alterior motive.

Unfortunately the US Congress has emasculated itself to such a point, it can't stop Obama.

In one of his best articles, Pat Buchanan advises Obama and Boehner to reject war with Syria.

22 reasons the US should stay out of Syria.

History of the US lying the country into war.

Small newspapers report Pentagon transfers two Guantanamo prisoners to Algeria.

Foreign Policy

France investigates corporate involvement with PRISM. This could further harm our economy if countries kick out corporations that partner with NSA.

Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend executed for making a porn tape.

Britain demands US back it in territorial disputes with Spain and Argentina.

Police State

Tor usage doubles in August.

NSA continues to discover how Snowden outsmarted all of them.

"Snowden used his sysadmin privileges to assume the user profiles of top NSA officials in order to gain access to the most sensitive files. His sysadmin privileges also enabled him to do something other NSA users can't — download classified files from NSAnet onto a thumb drive. 'Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was,' said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case. 'This is why you don't hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble.'""

This is another reason government seems so dumb.

Spying is expensive and frequently ineffective. Imagine that.

"• The CIA and NSA have launched offensive cyber operations to hack into foreign computer networks systems to steal secrets and commit sabotage. USA TODAY has reported on the military's efforts to develop offensive cyber abilities, including the capability to knock off an adversary's computer networks.
• The CIA is the intelligence community's top dog, spending $14 billion, half again as much as the NSA, the top eavesdropping agency.
• The NSA planned to investigate 4,000 "insider threats" in which one of the agency's own, like Snowden, divulged secrets."

They don't mention how dangerous it is for Americans.

The US black budget tops $52 billion.

"The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees."

We're the stupidest people in the world.

The New York Times reports this expenditure info comes from another leak. The government is a leaky ship that's sinking.

Another friend of the Boston Marathon bombers indicted.

We're all terrorists now.

Education

Schools drop the federal healthier meals program because students won't eat them. That's because whole grains are not healthier. They're more damaging. The bottom line was cafeterias were losing money. This was never about health of the students. It was always about grabbing more stolen money.

"Districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement was not enough to offset losses from students who began avoiding the lunch line and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry."

God forbid they bring food from home.

"Not every district can afford to quit. The National School Lunch Program provides cash reimbursements for each meal served: about $2.50 to $3 for free and reduced-priced meals and about 30 cents for full-price meals. That takes the option of quitting off the table for schools with large numbers of poor youngsters."

Trapped in another program.

Misc

People tend to have the most empathy for the most vulnerable, meaning pets over adult people. Once again scientists discover what we already know.

Health Care

ADHD drugs cause 23,000 emergency room visits.

Charging water with radio waves greatly benefits crops.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Harvard study discovers what everybody knows: gun control doesn't decrease deaths. It increases deaths.

"Because the findings so clearly demonstrate that more gun laws may in fact increase death rates, the study says that "the mantra that more guns mean more deaths and that fewer guns, therefore, mean fewer deaths" is wrong."

Even Harvard gets it.

Politics

The only black US senator wasn't invited to the 50th anniversary celebration of Dr. King's "I have a dream." speech.

Tax and Spend

Redistribution of wealth in the interest of equalizing it destroys wealth and creates equality only in poverty.

Federal Reserve

Bernanke's tenure of failure, but whomever Obama nominates next will probably be worse. Just as each president seems to be worse than the last, each Fed chief seems to be worse than the last.

Sports

If there's no evidence against Johnny Manziel, how come he was suspended for half a game? A&M should have stood up for him against the NCAA bullies. But even if he did take money for autographs, that's his business. Nobody else's. The NCAA has to go. It has no reason to exist except to loot money from players, universities and conferences.

Freedom of Speech

Study finds slight negative correlation between children playing violent video games and committing actual violence. Quit blaming the video games for violence.

Foreign Policy

Defense Secretary Hagel goes to southeast Asia to strengthen military ties with countries in opposition to China. The two-faced policy toward China, pretending to be friendly while being aggressive at the same time, is doomed to failure.

Health Care

I'm skeptical that 57 percent of Americans are against defunding Obamacare. If this was true, why would Obama ask Bill Clinton to sell Obamacare?

Researchers grow mini-human brains in lab. Apparently they don't see any ethical dilemmas.

Education

Teenage girl calls 911 because of spider.

"An officer did respond to the scene and estimated the spider was about 2 inches in diameter.
Modern police equipment was not necessary to handle the eight-legged perp in this case.
The officer disposed of the spider with an old-fashioned rolled up newspaper, police said."

This shows how stupid and dependent government schools are making people.

Chicago politician calls for drones to protect children going to and from school. This is ridiculous. How would they do that? Chicago is a failed city. The last thing we should do is give the crooks in charge drones.

This article claims teachers spend and average of $485 out of pocket for school supplies, so they are becoming sugar-babies on an online meet-up site to make more money.

"Brandon Wade, the website’s founder and CEO, said the average public school teacher registered on the site is between the ages of 28- and 33-years-old, and asks for approximately $3,000 a month in financial assistance from her sugar daddy."

That's a lot more than $485 a year. It looks like the Mrs. degree everybody called teaching when I was in college has expanded into a sugar-baby degree. I'm sure this meet-up site is a great way to catch a rich husband too.

"In case you were wondering, the website describes a modern sugar daddy as a successful and generous man who is willing to pamper and offer financial help or gifts to a young person in return for friendship and companionship. A “goal seeking sugar baby” is described on the website as a girl who “know(s) you deserve to date someone who will pamper you, empower you, and help you mentally, emotionally and financially.” "

So much for the ridiculous claim that men have all the power in relationships.

Global Warming and Energy

US electric grid always on the edge of failure.

The World Federation of Scientists removes global warming from it's list of global emergencies.

The paper claiming 97 percent of scientists agree with CAGW theory has been debunked from so many directions, I can't keep count.

New process creates clean drinking water from oil, gas and fracking production.

Indonesians burning land to convert it to farmland for creating palm oil.

Economy

Even techies recognize a bubble in tech.

Artificial Intelligence app as car salesman.

Foreign countries selling US debt.

"Emerging markets are now big enough to drag down the global economy. As Indonesia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, Turkey, Venezuela, South Africa, Russia, Thailand and Kazakhstan try to shore up their currencies, the effect is ricocheting back into the advanced world in higher borrowing costs. Even China felt compelled to sell $20bn of US Treasuries in July.

"They are running down reserves by selling US and European bonds, leading to a self-reinforcing feedback loop," said Simon Derrick from BNY Mellon."

This could be the beginning of the end.

Fast food worker strike planned for Thursday. The last time they did this, few noticed. If they don't show up to work, they should be fired. There's plenty of people who would take their jobs.

Regulation

New Zealand bans software patents.

War

Apparently the head of the UN is not on board with a new war in Syria. Or maybe he's just going through the motions.

The US tried to abort the UN investigation of the supposed chemical weapons attack, lending credence to the theory the attack was already planned, and the chemical weapons claims was a false flag to justify it. Maybe this is why Ban is pushing for a diplomatic solution.

"Kerry asserted Monday that he had warned Syrian Foreign Minister Moallem last Thursday that Syria had to give the UN team immediate access to the site and stop the shelling there, which he said was “systematically destroying evidence”. He called the Syria-U.N. deal to allow investigators unrestricted access “too late to be credible”.
After the deal was announced on Sunday, however, Kerry pushed Ban in a phone call to call off the investigation completely."

The US expected to attack before a deal was could be completed.

"The Wall Street Journal reported the pressure on Ban without mentioning Kerry by name. It said unnamed “US officials” had told the secretary-general that it was “no longer safe for the inspectors to remain in Syria and that their mission was pointless.”
But Ban, who has generally been regarded as a pliable instrument of US policy, refused to withdraw the UN team and instead “stood firm on principle”, the Journal reported. He was said to have ordered the UN inspectors to “continue their work”."

That's interesting.

"“[W]e don’t at this point have confidence that the UN can conduct a credible inquiry into what happened,” said Harf, “We are concerned that the Syrian regime will use this as a delay tactic to continue shelling and destroying evidence in the area.”
Harf did not explain, however, how the Syrian agreement to a ceasefire and unimpeded access to the area of the alleged chemical weapons attack could represent a continuation in “shelling and destroying evidence”."

That's funny. What isn't funny is the US is using naked lies as cover to kill many Syrians.

"Haq sharply disagreed with the argument made by Kerry and the State Department that it was too late to obtain evidence of the nature of the Aug. 21 incident.
“Sarin can be detected for up to months after its use,” he said."

More US lies. This also explains why the failure of people treating people and handling dead bodies to wear protection is a sign that no chemical weapons were used. Hagel joins Kerry in spouting the party line, though in less absolute terms. Obama joins the choir.

Repercussions of war with Syria.

It turns out the rebels are delaying the US team.

"The UN inspection team in Syria has been "delayed" due to a dispute among the rebels, who could not or would not guarantee the team’s safety. While the Assad government has granted them access, the suburb of Damascus where the alleged chemical attacks occurred is in rebel-controlled territory."

Another lie exposed.

"the US has "signals intelligence" supposedly proving the Syrian air force high command launched unspecified chemical weapons against rebel forces.
See, now aren’t you glad we have a National Security Agency with the ability to spy on anyone in the world?
Well, then, can we see the evidence? Clemons cited "signals intelligence." This is supposedly the source of the administration’s certainty that this time confirmed liars are telling the truth. Declassify the intercepted emails showing Assad telling his commander to gas ‘em all. Let’s hear the phone conversations played out in public:"

Like that will ever happen.

"It’s hard not to laugh when our Secretary of State cites a YouTube video as a clear and sufficient reason to take this nation into war:
"I went back and I watched the videos, the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time."
Forget the UN inspectors, forget the scientists and the forensic experts poring over the evidence, forget a vote in Congress and never mind that only nine percent of the American people support this reckless policy – because he’s seen the videos. In the social media!"

I thought Democrats know how to use the internet to their advantage. Apparently they can only reach 9 percent of the public. Those people probably all work for the federal government.

Congress cannot veto another Obama war.

"Firing a few shells of gas at Syrian civilians was not going to advance Assad’s cause but, rather, was certain to bring universal condemnation on his regime and deal cards to the War Party which wants a U.S. war on Syria as the back door to war on Iran."

"The basic question that needs to be asked about this horrific attack on civilians, which appears to be gas related, is: Cui bono?
To whose benefit would the use of nerve gas on Syrian women and children redound? Certainly not Assad’s, as we can see from the furor and threats against him that the use of gas has produced.
The sole beneficiary of this apparent use of poison gas against civilians in rebel-held territory appears to be the rebels, who have long sought to have us come in and fight their war."

Everybody knows this supposed attack is a lie, but our rulers don't care.

British PM caved to demands on a Parliament vote before attacking Syria. The vote won't happen until next week. US Congressmen demand Obama obtain congressional approval before an attack. That'll never happen. Congress is on vacation, so all this might have been timed to coincide with that. Britain to wait on UN report. A little bit of sanity seems to be rising up.

Self-interested Israeli sources supposedly captured signals ordering the chemical attack.

"The Israelis are selling Obama a bill of goods that they have intercepted Syrian government telephone conversations admitting chemical weapons use."

But NSA didn't? Claim US intelligence intercepted the communication, but this article greatly exaggerates the number of casualties.

Even if the Syrian government used chemical weapons, the US should not start a war because of it.

Cruise missiles are unlikely to be successful at destroying Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles, if any exist.

Russia blocks UN resolution.

Without Congress declaring war or a UN, or NATO edict, how will Obama legally justify starting a war with Syria? They're considering using Kosovo as a precedent, but that war was illegal too.

"If understood correctly, the Kosovo war was indeed a precedent that should act as a warning signal.
How many times can the United States use a false alarm to start an aggressive war?  Non-existent “genocide” in Kosovo and Libya, non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and now what looks to much of the world like a “false flag” chemical weapons attack in Syria.
The United States habitually announces the presence of a desired casus belli, dismissing demands for concrete evidence."

They'll get away with it again.

Israeli run on gas masks. I think that happened before the US attacked Iraq too.

Motives for the US destabilizing country after country.

Criticism of US policy on Syria and Egypt. There's plenty of that to go around.

Lest we forget the consequences of starting wars, 99 killed and 266 wounded in Iraq.
US sends traumatized troops back into war.

"The Washington Post reported last week that soldiers with six and seven tours behind them are still being deployed to Afghanistan, even after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The military knows this, and redeploys them anyway, as Post reporter Kevin Sieff so reasonably explained it."

That's evil compounded on top of evil.

Fort Hood shooter sentenced to death.

Police State

NYPD designates entire mosques as terrorist organization.

"The New York Police Department has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorist organizations, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing."

This seems bizarre to me. Why can't anybody record a sermon? Why does it need some special designation?

In typically lawless fashion, the FBI hires hackers to spy on people.

Springfield police assault six people for engaging in consensual sex. I don't know if there's a region-wide crackdown on prostitution of the DDN is just suddenly writing about it more.

Local

New housing bubble construction soaring.

"New home construction in Butler and Warren counties has increased by more than 40 percent this year, with some cities and townships on pace to double the number of single-family permits filed in 2012."

This bust is going to be way more painful than the last.

Here's how the press subtly pushes for more gun control.

"Gun laws vague in mental health cases"

No thanks.

Dayton Commission takes another meaningless, but cynically self-serving vote against the state stand your ground bill.

Fair workers don't have background checks. So what? Does every worker have to have a background check now?

""This is a dangerous law," said Bishop Richard Cox of the S.C.L.C. "It's a law that will affect every African-American male in this city and I'm glad you're sending a message to Gov. Kasich and the legislators."" 

Why would anybody want to forbid another from defending themselves? This concern comes after a sex offender was discovered operating a ride.

Media

And you wonder why Americans are misinformed.

Government owns corporations including media corporations.

Education

Roger Ebert gets it.

So does the press. They do this on purpose.

Misc

Creepy technology allows one person's brain to control another's. What is the point? If it's to help paralyzed people, why not just allow them to control the intermediate computer, not another person?

Global Warming and Energy

Artificially low natural gas prices force nuclear plant to close.

War

Western sources have told al Qaeda rebels in Syria to expect an attack on the government to aid them in days. The French government is ready to kill Syrians.

Supposedly Syrian hackers attack New York Times website and others. This is no response to the real bombing the US is going to unload on Syria.
Bradley Manning digs his hole deeper with more info about wanting to live as a woman.

"Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who was previously known as Bradley Manning, decided to announce that she wanted to live as a woman the day after sentencing because a military prison said publicly it would not provide hormone treatment, her attorney said Monday.
Attorney David Coombs told The Associated Press that Manning had known for a long time she would make such a statement, but "she wanted, essentially, for the media surrounding the trial to dissipate."
Manning did not want people to think the statement was insincere."

The media sure had dissipated. Not. And he wants government to pay for his hormone treatments. Bradley Manning is a man no matter what he changes him name too. It's inappropriate to use 'she' to describe him. He may wish he had wings as well as female genitals, but he has neither. Whether he likes it or not, he's a man.

Local

Sharp concrete on I-75 gave 12 cars flat tires.

Health Care

Mammograms and CT scans cause cancer.

Small farmers facing jail time for providing healthy food that corporations can't compete with.

Local

Police bust 82 year old man for hiring a prostitute. This is ridiculous.

Global Warming and Energy

Farmer's almanac predicts bitterly cold winter.

Slowest start to hurricane season on record.

Here's how US forest policy is working out this summer.

"It happens every summer, and this year is no different; thousands of wildfires ravage millions of acres in the arid Western states, destroying homes and huge swaths of forest and wildlife habitat — and taking lives. With the fire season far from over, federal firefighting efforts already topped $1 billion by August 21, and the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies are running out of money.  Forty-nine “uncontained large fires” are raging across the Western states and an additional 222 new “moderate” fires are in various stages of either growing or being brought under control, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Forest Service’s Active Fire Mapping website for August 23, 2013. "

Insane.

"Wildfires occur naturally and have always been a part of the seasonal cycle in the West, but the size and intensity of the fires have dramatically increased in recent years due, in large measure, to the gross mismanagement of the national forests by the U.S. Forest Service and the incessant lawsuits of radical environmentalists that have thwarted all reasonable attempts at proper forest management."

Don't forget the politicians.

"As The New American has reported many times over the past three decades, the unconscionable destruction of our vast forests, watersheds, and wildlife habitat is the inevitable result of policies and practices imposed by federal politicians and bureaucrats, in tandem with the obstructionist programs of extreme environmental activists."

Thanks.

"On July 10, 1999, this writer attended and reported on a congressional hearing of the House Resource Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health chaired by the late Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho). The hearing was held in the logging town of John Day, Oregon, in the heart of the Malheur National Forest, which had been effectively shut down and closed to logging by the U.S. Forest Service. Hundreds of millions of board feet of dead and dying timber and huge sections of blow-down timber were being left to rot and create massive bug infestations and fire hazards, while the local mills were starving for logs and Americans were being forced to import lumber and wood products from Canada."

Did I mention insane?

The reason natural gas prices are so low in the US is export restrictions.

Sports

Kevin Kolb suffered a concussion from only a slight bump on the head. That's because he's wearing a battering ram on his head instead of a pillow. Napoleon Goodell is killing the NFL. It's become much less fun to watch.

Losing isn't supposed to pay, but despite being the worst team in years, the Astros are far and away the most profitable.

Police State

Ohio police secretly comparing photos to secret drivers license photo database supposedly to help solve crimes.

"Last week, DeWine told The Enquirer he didn't think the public needed to be notified about the launch because 26 other states have facial recognition databases."

This is a good reason to never allow photos of you to be taken. Government turns everything against the people.

Police threaten to arrest volunteers feeding homeless people because they didn't have a permit.

DHS employee with website promoting race war given paid vacation.

Man jailed in new debtor's prison for being unable to pay alimony.

US Open spectators unhappy with TSA-like security.

Foreign Policy

Of course the NSA bugged UN headquarters in New York. Why do you think the US wants the UN in the US? They're hunting terrorists, don't you know. The UN wants us to believe they're naive, and they might be.

"The global agency says international treaties protect offices, missions from spying."

But laws are for serfs, not rulers. UN personnel might have thought they were part of the club, like Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers plutocrats, only to find out, painfully suddenly, they weren't. US rulers think UN personnel, like European rulers, are privileged subjects of the empire, not equals.

Economy

Durable goods purchases and capital expenditures fall.

Description of the Chinese economy:

"China has well-developed product markets but can hardly be called capitalist, given that most of the means of production are at least partially state owned.At the same time, the Chinese economy has also never really been centrally planned. Most economic decision making takes place at the local-government level, much as was the case during the Maoist period. The system might be best described by the seeming double oxymoron, capitalism with limited private ownership, socialism with limited planning."

Interesting.

Education

Chicago has become so dangerous, and army of guards must escort children to schools. Fourteen year old boy shot dead a block from an elementary school.

Prison schools reach a new level.

Tax and Spend

In order to gain more support from politicians and bureaucrats, NASA's next moon orbiter will be launched from near Washington D.C.

US to hit debt limit again in October.

War

Hackers launch massive DDoS against China's .cn domain. I wonder who might have done this.

More on the latest, most likely false, claim the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

Russia has seen no proof the government used chemical weapons.

Kerry claims chemical weapon use is confirmed. An US attack is imminent. Apparently they only question is how extensive the attack will be. Here we go again. The problem for the warmongers is only 9 percent of Americans support military intervention in Syria. This is why Obama is undecided. He's being squeezed from both sides. Most likely he's going to try to convince more Americans to support intervention because bombing is reportedly planned in days.

Back in January, Yahoo warned the US was planning a false flag chemical weapons attack in Syria. Another report.

Misc

I've always wondered what Burning Man was about. It seems it's about modeling refuge camps in the US. Great.

Health Care

Study under-reports Ohio Medicaid costs associated with Obamacare by $47 billion.

Man saves $17,000, paying only $3,000 instead of $20,000, on surgery by paying cash. Government's medical insurance system is a scam.

Pretty much all VA employees receive bonuses.

"Two-thirds of employees at the Department of Veteran Affairs, which has been the subject of widespread criticism for its excessive delays in providing veterans their benefits, received bonuses at the end of 2011 for “excellent” or “outstanding” performance. Additionally, employees at some of the department’s most ineffective offices were more likely to receive bonuses than workers at some of its most productive offices."

I guess all socialists get bonuses. You can't deny them to bad employees.

Tea Party to rally outside Boehner's Ohio to threaten if he funds Obamacare, he will own it. It's about time.

Delta predicts Obamacare will cost company $100 million.

Marijuana fights depression. That seems odd. Productivity fights depression, and marijuana famously doesn't boost productivity.

Foreign Policy

Japan cannot depend on the US to protect it from China.

Economy

Reasons gold might rally.

Global Warming and Energy

Satellite data shows the earth's temperature has cooled slightly over the last ten years.

Government reducing the temperature of hot water heaters is turning laundry into a bacterial soup that can make people sick.

War

Possible causes for the recent report of chemical weapons use in Syria. Reasons to believe the claims of chemical attack are bogus.

"Somehow we are supposed to believe that within 72 hours after the arrival of a UN chemical weapons inspection team to assess — with the Syrian government’s cooperation — the sites of previous claimed chemical weapons attacks, that same Syrian government would launch a chemical weapon attack on civilians just miles from where the UN inspectors are staying. The UN inspectors were there on invitation from the Syrian government and that same government would launch chemicals right into their neighborhood. "

I didn't believe it at the time.

"“None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.” "

More evidence against.

War on Drugs

Big jump in number of meth labs seized this year. It'll have no effect.

Education

The higher education bubble enabled Ohio State CFO to spend $121,000 on travel expenses including many foreign trips in the last two years. Maybe he never heard of email.

Local

Local schools are so bad, 500 third graders are in danger of being held back because they can't read.

Republicans like to claim they're fiscally responsible, but the Butler County GOP is going bankrupt because it wastes money.

DP&L focusing on competing in competitive market. That would be a nice change.

War on Drugs

Much like the Forgotten man, hemp is the forgotten good.

Tax and Spend

Update on the Detroit bankruptcy.

"“In a Chapter 9, which means the city holds more cards than they do in a private sector filing, the judge can’t impose a plan on the city and no one else decides what they can do,” said Michael Sweet, a noted authority on financial restructuring and bankruptcy. "

So the thieves can remain in power. It's going to happen everywhere.

Detroit has been bankrupt for years, but its accountants were paid to cover it up. The rulers didn't want to the looting train to end.

Politics

Blaming Obama for seemingly random black on white crime. This dovetails into my belief that Obama loves the ICE weapons appropriator who advocated blacks wage war on whites.

Jane Lynch's gay marriage activism blows up in her face as her ex-spouse sues to spousal support. Welcome to government interference in relationships.

Libertarian populism, which I've been explaining for decades, is suddenly a hot topic. Apparently I wasn't very good at making my case previously. Suddenly, I'm a genius. Maybe the scales are falling from people's eyes because of the previous efforts of libertarians and more from circumstances.

Education

Richard Vedder explains why college costs so much, and Obama knows it. He's driving up costs on purpose.

The collapse of government will collapse the education bubble will collapse college sports.

Police State

NSA still can't figure out what Snowden took. He's making them look like fools, and they probably hate that more than anything.

NSA agents spy on their wives, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends, and I'm sure women do the same, exactly as you would expect.

NSA agents willfully break the law with their spying, just as you would expect. But law itself is the problem because it allows widespread spying on Americans.

The DHS agent in charge of purchasing weapons and ammo for ICE has a website in which he calls for blacks to wage war on whites.

"But the best part here is that the DHS was apparently fully aware of the website, and Kimathi somehow got away with telling them that his black supremacist site called ‘War is on the Horizon’ was an ‘entertainment site that sells concert videos’. We’re talking about the agency that runs the TSA’s genital searches and censors the Constitution being entirely incapable of noticing that an openly aggressive black supremacist website that calls for the death of virtually all whites may not be a site that sells concert videos."

You can't make this stuff up. Obama must love this guy. And we wonder why so many blacks are teaming up and committing random attacks and murders on whites.

DHS ammo purchases reach at least 3.1 billion rounds.

"DHS officials have repeatedly denied stockpiling ammunition, but AP reports claim that the agency plans to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next four or five years, and has already bought 360,000 rounds of hollow point bullets and 1.5 billion rounds in 2012."

They plan to kill every American many times over.

"Purchasing 1.6 billion rounds of ammo would also give DHS the means to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraq War. Members of Congress say the DHS has repeatedly refused to tell them the purpose of procuring such large amounts of ammo."

The purpose seems obvious to me. The US is way bigger than Iraq.

The same teens who give every piece of personal information they have to everybody, company and government they can, supposedly care about privacy. Talk is cheap. This report is a joke intended to mislead about the thought processes of recent government school outputs.

Common activities make everybody a terrorist to the police state.

The chances of you suffering a terrorist attack are astronomically small. Don't give in to fear.

"The chance of a terrorist striking me is less than .000,000,0001%."

If you see a suspicious package, pick it up and put in the garbage before somebody calls the bomb squad and wastes a bunch of our money.

Glenn Greenwald on the detention of his partner.

"At the time the "security official" called me, David had been detained for 3 hours. The security official told me that they had the right to detain him for up to 9 hours in order to question him, at which point they could either arrest and charge him or ask a court to extend the question time. The official - who refused to give his name but would only identify himself by his number: 203654 - said David was not allowed to have a lawyer present, nor would they allow me to talk to him.
I immediately contacted the Guardian, which sent lawyers to the airport, as well various Brazilian officials I know. Within the hour, several senior Brazilian officials were engaged and expressing indignation over what was being done. The Guardian has the full story here."

It must be nice to have a bunch of insider contacts like that. As bad as this situation was, imagine how much worse it would be for an individual who had no such contacts.

"Despite all that, five more hours went by and neither the Guardian's lawyers nor Brazilian officials, including the Ambassador to the UK in London, were able to obtain any information about David. We spent most of that time contemplating the charges he would likely face once the 9-hour period elapsed."

I guess Greenwald thought he was privileged because he had contacts. How do you think poor serfs feel when government does the same and worse to them?

"According to a document published by the UK government about Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, "fewer than 3 people in every 10,000 are examined as they pass through UK borders" (David was not entering the UK but only transiting through to Rio). Moreover, "most examinations, over 97%, last under an hour." An appendix to that document states that only .06% of all people detained are kept for more than 6 hours."

Why is it OK for those .06 percent of people to be subject to similar if not worse abuse? Quit trying to make yourself out to be some special kind of victim.

"The stated purpose of this law, as the name suggests, is to question people about terrorism. The detention power, claims the UK government, is used "to determine whether that person is or has been involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.""

And we all know that's a load of crap. You're not the first person to be pained by that load of crap.

"But they obviously had zero suspicion that David was associated with a terrorist organization or involved in any terrorist plot. Instead, they spent their time interrogating him about the NSA reporting which Laura Poitras, the Guardian and I are doing, as well the content of the electronic products he was carrying."

So why was he carrying them? That's just stupid. Haven't you heard that government goons are infiltrating every electronic device they can get their hands on. You set him up to be assaulted. I wonder if Greenwald didn't plan this whole affair because it could have been easily avoided.

"Worse, they kept David detained right up until the last minute: for the full 9 hours, something they very rarely do. Only at the last minute did they finally release him. We spent all day - as every hour passed - worried that he would be arrested and charged under a terrorism statute."

That doesn't make me feel sorry for poor, victimized Greenwald.

"This was obviously designed to send a message of intimidation to those of us working journalistically on reporting on the NSA and its British counterpart, the GCHQ. "

Agreed, but at the same time it seems likely Greenwald orchestrated this encounter to boost his personal interests as well.

"Before letting him go, they seized numerous possessions of his, including his laptop, his cellphone, various video game consoles, DVDs, USB sticks, and other materials. They did not say when they would return any of it, or if they would.
This is obviously a rather profound escalation of their attacks on the news-gathering process and journalism."

Only if you're living in a dream world. They've been doing this for years, and Greenwald knew it. He can't be so stupid that he was surprised by this. He set this up on purpose. He got a tremendous amount of press. It probably deflected a lot of criticism. This was a big win for Greenwald. This intimidation works in his interest and everybody's interest, but we shouldn't think of Greenwald as a victim. If his partner wasn't in on it, that's even worse.

When a man's employer calls the feds on him for searching for backpacks, you know our culture is heading toward rock bottom.