Thursday, December 5, 2013

ONLY ONE PERCENT OF SNOWDEN’S LEAKS PUBLISHED

The Guardian claims to have published only one percent of the material leaked by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Snowden’s leaks revealed government spying by the United States and British governments.

Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said that although Snowden leaked about 58,000 files, his paper only published “about one percent” of the total material. “I would not expect us to be publishing a huge amount more,” Rusbridger said as he was questioned by Parliament’s home affairs committee.

The editor also insisted that The Guardian did not put national security at risk or assist terrorists, as some government officials have accused. Rather, Rusbridger argued that the leaks helped the public as a whole by igniting a world-wide conversation about government surveillance.

He said, “There is no doubt in my mind … that newspapers have done something that oversight has failed to do.”

Still, the British government was so convinced that the leaks aided terrorism that a criminal investigation was launched and David Miranda, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, was detained. The British government will not disclose much information about the case, including the specific offenses The Guardian allegedly committed.

Rusbridger went on to say that his newspaper has been under immense pressure from government officials: “I feel that some of this activity has been designed to intimidate the Guardian.” He argued that this would be “inconceivable” in America, where journalists are protected by the First Amendment.

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BOOM: A Major Wall Street Bank Just Initiated Coverage On Bitcoin And Identified A Fair Value

The game just changed.

Bitcoin, the bizarre electronic currency that seemingly came out of nowhere and has been taking over financial market headlines, is now being covered by one of the biggest firms on Wall Street.

“We believe Bitcoin can become a major means of payment for e-commerce and may emerge as a serious competitor to traditional money transfer providers,” wrote Bank of America currency strategist David Woo in a 14-page note to clients this morning. “As a medium of exchange, Bitcoin has clear potential for growth, in our view.”

This extremely volatile “cryptocurrency” crashed from $1,240 to a low of $870 this morning after the People’s Bank of China announced Bitcoin coin handling restriction for its countries banks.

Wall Street’s coverage of Bitcoin seemed inevitable considering the amount of money moving in and out of it.

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Young invincibles spurn O-Care

Mounting opposition to ObamaCare among young adults is creating a new crisis for the White House.

While the federal enrollment website HealthCare.gov appears to be improving by the day, polls show the “young invincibles” key to making the law work are becoming less likely to enroll.

Younger people were skeptical of the healthcare reform law even before its troubled rollout, despite their support for President Obama.

But polling indicates the problems facing HealthCare.gov — a site the administration initially touted as a hip, tech-friendly experience — have reinforced their doubts about the need to have health insurance at all.

“The trend is daunting for the White House but not necessarily surprising,” said Pew Research Center Director Michael Dimock.

“Younger folks are part of Obama’s base … but the rollout confirmed concerns that were already in their minds.”

A poll released Wednesday by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that more than half of 18- to 29-year-olds disapprove of ObamaCare and believe it will raise their healthcare costs.

Even more troubling for the administration is that less than one-third of uninsured young people said they plan to enroll in coverage.

Without a large number of young, healthy people in the insurance exchanges, it could create a “death spiral” of high premiums that could threaten the long-term viability of the marketplaces.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Some Reid staffers exempt from Obamacare exchanges

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of Obamacare’s architects and staunchest supporters, is also the only top congressional leader to exempt some of his staff from having to buy insurance through the law’s new exchanges.

Reid is the exception among the other top congressional leaders. GOP House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have all directed their staffs to join the exchange, their aides said.

In the charged atmosphere surrounding Obamacare, Reid’s decision only gives Republicans more ammo to attack Democrats already suffering politically from the law’s botched rollout.

In September, Reid told reporters, “Let’s stop these really juvenile political games — the one dealing with health care for senators and House members and our staff. We are going to be part of exchanges, that’s what the law says and we’ll be part of that.”

That’s true. Reid and his personal staff will buy insurance through the exchange.

But it’s also true that the law lets lawmakers decide if their committee and leadership staffers hold on to their federal employee insurance plans, an option Reid has exercised.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson emphasized, “We are just following the law.”

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Social Workers Take Woman’s Baby From Her Womb, Won’t Return It To Her

Authorities in Great Britain forcibly sedated a pregnant woman from Italy, performed a court-ordered C-section delivery on her, and now plan to put the child up for adoption against her will.

The surreal story, first reported in the Telegraph, sheds light on an “increasing problem” with foreigners being forced to leave their children in the UK, critics say.

The unnamed woman traveled to England in July 2012 for a training course offered by her employer, the budget carrier Ryanair. While at the airport hotel awaiting her return trip to Italy, she reportedly had a panic attack because she’d misplaced the passports of her two older daughters, who were back home with their grandmother.

The distraught woman called police, who took her into custody on learning that she had a bipolar disorder. They dropped her at a psychiatric hospital. Five weeks later, after hearing an appeal by social services officials, a British court ordered the pregnant woman’s labor “to be enforced by way of caesarean section.”

On the day of the procedure—which she didn’t know was coming—she was refused breakfast and forcibly sedated. She remained in a drug-induced stupor for five weeks after, when she was told what happened… and informed that she could neither see her newborn nor take her home.

The woman has since returned to Italy, resumed treatment for her mental condition, and unsuccessfully petitioned for custody of the child. Her husband, an American man from whom she is “amicably separated,” reportedly offered to give the daughter a home with his family in Los Angeles. But so far authorities have gone against the UK’s general guideline of placing children in social services with immediate members of their own families.

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