Reiterating his prior ruling which found the U.S. government's surveillance of civilians' telephone records to be unconstitutional—"Orwellian," even—a federal judge on Monday ordered the National Security Agency to halt its bulk collection program. [...]

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter claims Russia and China are challenging something he describes as the “international order.” What he really means is that Russia and China refuse to bend the knee to US domination and hegemony.   [...]

On Nov. 9, we’re staging the largest-ever civil disobedience for racial, climate, and immigrant justice. Here’s why, by YONG JUNG CHO, WALEED SHAHID, DEVONTAE TORRIENTE AND SARA BLAZEVIC   Its election season. [...]

Young people from across the country to sweep Washington, D.C. with direct action 'to demand justice on race, climate change, and immigration' Buoyed by President Barack Obama's fresh rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, thousands of young people from across the country are preparing to unleash on Monday what they say will be the "largest-ever civil disobedience for racial, climate, [...]

In an interview with Swedish media, whistle-blower Edward Snowden opened up about CIA torture, ISIS, and mass surveillance. Two-and-a-half years after revealing the NSA’s mass surveillance tactics, he says he’s “very comfortable” with his choices. [...]

Anonymous, a loose and decentralized coalition of hackers, plans to release the identities of at least 1,000 people it says are members of the Ku Klux Klan on Thursday, organizers said. OperationKKK, or #OpKKK as it is being called on Twitter, began one year ago when members of the KKK — a white supremacist hate group founded in 1865 — said it would use deadly force against protesters d [...]

Calls for global support for a full inquiry into the U.S. bombing of a charity-run hospital in Afghanistan have gone ignored, according to the head of Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) which is mourning the loss of 30 lives in the attack. [...]

One month after the U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens more, the Obama administration refuses to submit to an independent inquiry while the aid group charges that the lack of global outcry over the incident has become deafening. [...]

Transparency International warns: "Corruption has fueled political unrest, extremism, and formed a narrative for violent extremist groups" Western nations—led by the United States—are selling large quantities of weapons to governments in the Middle East and North Africa, providing little oversight for how these arms are used, and thereby fueling corruption and conflict in countries from Sau [...]

Russian and US air forces have staged joint drills to practice air safety measures in the skies over Syria, according to the Russian General Staff, which also reported that its military has begun to coordinate with Syria’s moderate opposition forces. In the course of the drills, both the air crews and ground services of Russian and US forces drilled procedures aimed at avoiding problems in ca [...]

"United We Fall" A film by Bryan Law and Dan Dicks is a documentary about the North American Union that is being developed right now between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. For years this topic has been debated in the news and in political circles as being a possible future for North America. In recent years, the mood has shifted and a rift is developing between those who want a Deeply In [...]

Russia, what a nerve they have! How dare of them to move their country so close to out military bases. Those bad Russians should not get away with that! The US needs to cancel Healthcare, Social Security and increase the debt ceiling to have all the budget to chase the Russians to the moon. Then... there will be piece on earth! [...]

An independent investigation by journalists featured in the New York Times on Sunday offers an in-depth look at the way American corporations have used the inclusion of "arbitration clauses" within consumer contracts to strategically circumvent judicial review of their behavior and immunize themselves from class action lawsuits –"realistically the only tool citizens have to fight illegal or dec [...]

A German government-sanctioned special investigation has exposed a "clear breach" of intelligence-sharing agreements—including illegal surveillance of European authorities—between the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and its German counterpart, known as the BND. [...]

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question, "Who governs? Who really rules?" To put it short: The United States is no democracy, but actually an oligarchy. [...]

Thanks to the pressure of civil liberties organizations and heavy-hitters in the tech industry, President Barack Obama will now have to publicly comment on his position on strong encryption. The savecrypto.org petition requested the Obama administration to publicly affirm their support for strong encryption and “[r]eject any law, policy, or mandate that would undermine our security.” [...]

It’s long been known that authorities can use the secretive Stingray tools to track people by their cell phones. Now it’s been revealed that police are actually able to listen in on calls using the device. Stingrays, cell-site simulators, are suitcase-sized devices that work by mimicking cell towers and intercepting the signals of mobile phones. [...]

The majority of European Parliament members have voted in favor of asking constituent states to grant protection to whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has described the move as a ‘game-changer’ and a ‘chance to move forward’. MEPs have urged EU member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent ext [...]

The Iraqi government never asked for and does not need any US involvement in ground operations against Islamic State terrorists. The eye-opening statement came only a day after the Pentagon promised its partner more ground support if it was required. “This is an Iraqi affair and the government did not ask the US Department of Defense to be involved in direct operations,” spokesman Sa'ad al- [...]

Last week I compared the US – and by extension all economies based on the same model – to Semtex. My exploration of this analogy both ruffled feathers and raised questions. This week, I want to address five of the most common criticisms the article generated.   Have not read part one yet? CLICK HERE  to read it first.   Or CLICK HERE to proceed to the current article! [...]

By holding military exercises NATO is sending a message to Russia and preparing public opinion in the West that Russia constitutes an existential threat to the US and, therefore, there must be a new arms race, says Brian Becker from the anti-war ANSWER Coalition. [...]

Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner has agreed to look into a complaint filed by an Austrian law student claiming that Facebook has made his personal data available to US intelligent services and doesn’t guarantee a sufficient level of security. [...]