Australia spied on Indonesia and US lawyers for NSA

The latest revelations from the Edward Snowden documents is that the Australian government spied on members of an unnamed US law firm that was representing the Indonesian government in a trade dispute with the US, violating attorney-client privilege in the process. The conversations were picked up by the Australian Signals Directorate, their equivalent of the NSA, who then offered to share their information with the NSA, because what are friends for if they don’t help each other in taking advantage of others?
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NSA spied on climate talks

The story put out by the government that the NSA had created and uses its massive spying powers purely to combat terrorism has been seen to be a joke. The US and UK are spying on everyone because they can and are willing to do it to gain any advantage in any area, even if it does the kinds of things that are condemned as criminal when done by others.
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Perkins for president!

You may recall Thomas Perkins, the multi-millionaire who recently said that the attacks on the one-percenters is similar to the rhetoric that the Nazis used to inflame people against Jews and thus may be the precursor to a something similar happening here. He must be feeling pleased with the reception those remarks got because he is back in the news, with new and even more profound insights.
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Mixed day for LGBT rights

A US district judge in Virginia ruled today that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional because it violated the due process and equal protections clauses of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. This follows Wednesday’s similar ruling in Kentucky and earlier rulings in Oklahoma and Utah. Like those rulings, the order was stayed pending appeals, so that this issue is being fast-tracked to the US Supreme Court.
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Republican leadership forced to stop leading from behind

Kevin Drum describes what happened in the US Senate two days ago. The Republican party leadership clearly wanted to avoid another knock down, drag out, fight over raising the debt ceiling that so hurt them the previous times they have tried it. But the Tea Party wing has decided that raising the debt ceiling is the Greatest Evil Ever and was demanding that the party oppose it.
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The extraordinary power of the US consular officers

People in other countries applying for US visas are well aware that the consular officer who happens to be the one who is assigned your file has great authority over you. Get an easy-going one and you are in luck. But more likely you will get a tough nut since that is the type that the US government seems to want, even if they give a bad impression of the US as being populated by rude, surly types. Or it may be that it is easier to turn people down if you have an unfriendly demeanor and so the consular officials adopt that pose. [Read more…]