October 2020 – Page 3

Thousands Stage Anti-Monarchy Protests Across Spain

Posted on October 15, 2020 by bamdj

Anti-monarchy demonstrations were held in over 50 cities across Spain Saturday in protest actions called by leftist groups. In Madrid over 15,000 people marched. Similar demonstrations were held in Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Oviedo and many other Spanish cities.

Five days after Spanish King Juan Carlos announced his intention to abdicate the throne, the demonstrators demanded a referendum on whether Spain should continue as a monarchy or become a republic.

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Monday, shortly after the abdication, a spontaneous outpouring of 20,000 people poured onto Madrid’s streets in a protest led by the 15-M anti-austerity movement. “Spain, tomorrow, will be Republican,” protesters chanted.

An El Pais poll, published Sunday, shows that nearly two thirds, about 62 percent, of Spaniards believe a referendum is necessary to decide whether Spain should continue to have a monarchy.

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The United Left (IU), the third most powerful force in the Spanish Parliament, are considering a referendum that would call for state reform. IU leader Cayo Lara said a bill would be introduced in parliament seeking a referendum in the next three months.

King Juan Carlos, 76, made his surprise announcement on Monday, clearing the way for Crown Prince Felipe, 46, to become the country’s next king.

Spain’s legislature must pass special legislation to allow the announced abdication because the country’s laws do not currently allow for abdication.

Spain’s monarchy was installed by former dictator Francisco Franco. Juan Carlos has sat on the throne since 1975.

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Panel: NSA Bulk Spying Edges 'Constitutional Unreasonableness'

Posted on October 15, 2020 by bamdj

A government panel tasked to examine how a controversial program of the National Security Agency is executed has determined the Section 702 program has been “effective” in improving aspects of “national security,” but that the manner in which it performs its unwarranted and bulk collection of telephone and digital communications place it on the very edge of “constitutional unreasonableness.”

The draft report is informative but flawed, say critics of its methods and finding, in that it takes too many of the government’s own questionable claims and legal assumptions as it starting point, without a deeper and more adversarial examination of how the bulk data being collected by the agency is being gathered in the first place.

The draft report (pdf) from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) was released to journalists and the public late on Tuesday with a meeting of the board and approval of the final draft scheduled for Wednesday. The PCLOB is an independent oversight agency of the government which has reviewed previous surveillance programs of the NSA following revelations made possible by the leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden last year.

In its review, the panel looked at the NSA’s PRISM program, which operates under the authority of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) (pdf), by which the government collects the contents of electronic communications, including telephone calls and emails. Targets under the program are restricted by law to targets that are “reasonably believed to be non-U.S. persons located outside the United States,” but privacy advocates and civil liberties groups have argued that government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, have stretched that interpretation well beyond what the law intended.

According to Cindy Cohn, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the PCLOB falls well short of what is required in terms of oversight and holding the NSA and other government agencies accountable. “The board focuses only on the government’s methods for searching and filtering out unwanted information,” she notes in a blog post on the group’s website. “This ignores the fact that the government is collecting and searching through the content of millions of emails, social networking posts, and other Internet communications, steps that occur before the PCLOB analysis starts.

Other initial reviews of the report called its findings a vindication of the NSA’s claims that the PRISM program and use of Section 702 have been useful and “legal” tools in the effort to distrupt terrorist networks or national security threats around the globe.

As the Guardian‘s Spencer Ackerman reports, the PCLOB assessment “dealt the NSA a victory on Tuesday night by calling the information reaped ‘valuable’. It pointedly rejected similar claims for the bulk collection of US call data in a January report.”

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However, Ackerman continued, the board also questioned “the NSA’s intrusion into Americans’ data and recommended limits to the government’s ability to access large amounts of American communications data that the NSA inevitably collects and searches through without a warrant.”

As Reuters notes, certain aspects of the manner in which the NSA interprets the law and executes the PRISM program raise serious questions about whether its impact on U.S. persons pushes it over the edge into “constitutional unreasonableness.”

Government disclosures made public earlier this week from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence made it clear that both the FBI and CIA exploit the NSA’s “trove” of data collected under Section 703 to conduct what Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has called “backdoor searches” —done without a warrant—on untold numbers of U.S. citizens.

As Cohn writes:

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Red-state Dems getting high-profile Senate perches

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

Red-state Senate Democrats are getting high-profile committee roles next year as the party heads toward a tough 2018 campaign cycle.

Sen. Joe ManchinJoseph (Joe) ManchinTrump administration seeks to use global aid for nuclear projects Shelley Moore Capito wins Senate primary West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice wins GOP gubernatorial primary MORE (D-W.Va.) is joining the Appropriations and the Intelligence committees, according to a breakdown of caucus assignments released by incoming Minority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerOvernight Health Care: US showing signs of retreat in battle against COVID-19 | Regeneron begins clinical trials of potential coronavirus antibody treatment | CMS warns nursing homes against seizing residents’ stimulus checks Schumer requests briefing with White House coronavirus task force as cases rise Schumer on Trump’s tweet about 75-year-old protester: He ‘should go back to hiding in the bunker’ MORE (D-N.Y.).

“It is a privilege to be assigned to the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as we enter into a new Congress,” Manchin said on Tuesday. “The two committees oversee a range of issues that will help the people of West Virginia and our values.”

Though the Intelligence Committee generally works behind closed doors, the post will put Manchin at the heart of upcoming probes on whether Russia meddled in U.S. elections to help Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE.

The Appropriations post will give Manchin oversight of taxpayer dollars and additional influence to try to steer some of those funds to his home state.

Manchin added on Tuesday that the two committees paired with his move in 2017 to Senate Democratic leadership means he “will have a greater influence over where our federal dollars are going, and how our country’s intelligence activities and programs keep us safe.”

Separately, Sen. Claire McCaskillClaire Conner McCaskillMissouri county issues travel advisory for Lake of the Ozarks after Memorial Day parties Senate faces protracted floor fight over judges amid pandemic safety concerns Amash on eyeing presidential bid: ‘Millions of Americans’ want someone other than Trump, Biden MORE (Mo.) will take the top Democratic spot on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, giving her broad sway on government oversight and the Department of Homeland Security.

“Missourians expect me to fight for them — to make their families and communities more secure, and to strengthen accountability in government,” McCaskill said. “That’s been the bread and butter of my work in the Senate. And these assignments will give me a strong platform to keep fighting for the state I love.”

She will also join the Finance Committee as lawmakers prepare to take another stab at tax reform in 2017.

Sen. Tim KaineTimothy (Tim) Michael KaineWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Senate panel passes amendment to bar using troops against protesters Defense bill turns into proxy battle over Floyd protests MORE (D-Va.), who is also up for reelection in 2018, will join the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The move will put Kaine on the front lines of the fight over the Affordable Care Act, with Republicans looking to lay the pathway for the repeal process in early January.

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“This is a critical moment for healthcare in America and I’m motivated now more than ever to fight against harmful policy proposals that seek to reverse the progress we’ve made in increasing access to care for millions of Americans,” Kaine said in a statement.

The former vice presidential nominee added that he would also use the role to address opioid and prescription drug abuse.

Senate Democrats face a potentially brutal 2018 map , where they’ll have to play defense on 23 seats. Sens. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) and Angus KingAngus KingSenator suggests law enforcement used ‘excessive force’ in Lafayette Square incident Trump administration could pursue drilling near Florida coast post-election: report Hillicon Valley: Chinese tech groups caught in rising US-China tensions | Senator questions controversial facial recognition group on use during protests | Study finds vulnerabilities in online voting system used by several states MORE (I-Maine), who caucus with Democrats, are also up for reelection. Ten of those seats are in states carried by President-elect Donald Trump.

Kaine, McCaskill and Manchin have each said that they will run for reelection.

Sen.-elect Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is also joining the Appropriations Committee despite being a freshman. Van Hollen previously served in the House, including as ranking member on the Budget Committee, and will head up the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee heading into the 2018 cycle.

Schumer’s committee appointments must be ratified by a vote of the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in January.

Though the 2018 election is nearly two years away, midterm politics spilled onto the Senate floor before lawmakers left Washington for the year. Manchin lead Democrats in holding up a spending bill in an effort get a one-year extension of healthcare benefits for miners and their families included in the continuing resolution.

Schumer praised Manchin and other-red state Democrats during the fight at a rally with miners.

“I first want to tell the miners here what a wonderful job Joe [Manchin] and Heidi [Heitkamp] and Sherrod [Brown] and Mark [Warner] and [Bob Casey Jr.] have done for you,” he said, speaking next to the senators. “I want to tell the miners I have their back because they have your back.”

Heitkmap, Casey and Brown are also up for reelection in 2018.

Pipeline Opponents: This Means 'War'

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

“It’s official. The war is on,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip told a crowd of hundreds who had flooded the streets of Vancouver late Tuesday following the announcement that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had approved the Enbridge Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline.

Phillip, who is president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, told reporters that people are prepared to go to jail over this fight, “because that’s what it’s going to take.”

Phillip’s statement exemplified the widespread condemnation and vows of resistance that swiftly followed news that the Canadian government had greenlighted the controversial project.

The 1,177 kilometer pipeline will carry 200 million barrels of tar sands crude each year from Alberta to a terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, where it will be loaded onto oil tankers.

Blocking a major intersection, the Vancouver protesters wielded signs and chanted: ‘No pipelines!’, ‘No tankers!’ and ‘Defend our coast!’

“The only thing we can do now is raise our voices together and have a peaceful protest, to make a strong statement that this is not okay,” Mona Woodward, executive director of the Aboriginal Front door society, told a reporter from the Vancouver Observer.

A diverse crowd gathered in front of the CBC News headquarters in the B.C. city to voice their anger at a government that they say blatantly chose to neglect the people and the environment over big business.

“It’s more than disrespectful […] it’s the end of safe drinking water, it’s also the end of Mother Earth,” Woodward continued.

Opponents of the pipeline also flooded social media with vows of resistance and pictures of Tuesday’s demonstration.

Canadian Indigenous groups, which have long-fought the pipeline, are vowing to defend their land and their sovereignty ‘without surrender.’

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In an unprecedented show of unity, 31 First Nations and tribal councils have signed a letter announcing their intention to “vigorously pursue all lawful means to stop the Enbridge project.”

“We have governed our lands, in accordance to our Indigenous laws, since time immemorial,” read the statement, which was distributed by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. “Our inherent Title and Rights and our legal authority over our respective territories have never been surrendered.”

“This project, and the federal process to approve it, violated our rights and our laws. We are uniting to defend our lands and waters of our respective territories,” the statement continued. “We will defend our territories whatever the costs may be.”

“We will defend our territories whatever the costs may be.”
—alliance of 31 First Nations

Even with the project tied up in courts, organizers are preparing more immediate direct actions and demonstrations on the ground.

On Wednesday, the First Nations group Kootenays for a Pipeline-Free B.C. is holding a rally under the banner “Occupy the Pipeline Everywhere!” at the Chahko Mika Mall in Ottawa.

Women with the Yinka Dene Alliance, a coalition of six First Nations who live directly along the pipeline route, are vowing to “do everything we can to protect our water,” as alliance coordinator Geraldine Thomas Flurer told The Tyee.

Gitga’at First Nation women are planning to a suspend multicolored crocheted “chain of hope” across the more than 3.5 kilometer-wide Douglas Channel this Friday, in what they are describing as a symbolic blockade against oil tankers.

Echoing the sentiment of many who are specifically directing their anger over the pipeline at Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Chief Phillip said during the Vancouver rally: “Harper has declared war on British Columbians and First Nations, he will absolutely not be welcome into this province in the future.”

Considering the mounting opposition, many believe this is a project destined for failure. As noted Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki wrote following news of the pipeline’s approval, “This conversation is far from over.”

Suzuki added: “In approving it, the government is aggressively pushing an unwanted project on an unwilling public. I don’t believe it will be built.”

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Russian Officials Likely to Extend Asylum for Edward Snowden

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

Edward Snowden is seeking to extend his stay in Russia, where he has been granted asylum from the U.S. after releasing documents on the NSA’s surveillance programs around the world, and officials at the Kremlin confirmed to state media that the new permit is likely to be approved.

“I do not see any problem in extending the temporary political asylum,” migration official Vladimir Volokh told the Russian news service Interfax. “Circumstances have not changed. Snowden’s life is still in danger; therefore the Federal Migration Service has every basis to prolong his status.”

Snowden initially took refuge in Moscow in 2013, where he became stranded on his way to Cuba, after U.S. officials revoked his passport and charged him with espionage and theft of government property.

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After five weeks in an airport, Snowden received a year-long grant to stay in Russia. The permit expires on July 31. Snowden’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, told state media on Wednesday that the documents to extend his client’s stay have been filed.

U.S. authorities have not been able to determine Snowden’s specific location in Russia or how much contact he has with its government or security services. As the Washington Post reported, the U.S. will have trouble catching Snowden without a crucial misstep on his part, as it is unlikely that the Russian government will extradite him at the request of the U.S.

Snowden has also expressed interest in seeking asylum in other countries, including several in South America, but risks being sent home to face trial if he travels outside of Russia and is forced to stop in a U.S.-allied nation.

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Two matches, Elias concert set for WWE Raw season premiere

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

Two matches and a concert were announced for next week’s Raw.

Lana won a battle royal on tonight’s show to earn a title match against Raw Women’s champion Asuka next week. The finish had Natalya eliminate Lacey Evans to seemingly win the battle royal. However Lana, who earlier was put through a table but not eliminated, appeared and kicked Natalya to the floor to eliminate her, winning the match.

An angle earlier in the show broke up the team. Following a loss to the team of Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose, Natalya told Lana that “she couldn’t do this anymore.”

Keith Lee will face Braun Strowman in a sanctioned match. Since Strowman was not a part of the Raw brand, Adam Pearce made an exhibition match between Strowman and Lee on last week’s Raw that ended in a double count out. Strowman has since been drafted to Raw, setting up the match for next week.

Additionally, Elias will hold a concert. He made his return to the company on tonight’s show, attacking Jeff Hardy with a guitar. He blamed Hardy for the hit and run attack that took him out in May and declared he would be holding a concert on next week’s show.

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Missouri to Vote on Adding Phone, Email Privacy to State Constitution

Posted on October 14, 2020October 28, 2024 by bamdj

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Missouri voters in August will decide whether to add an electronic privacy provision to the state constitution, giving telecommunications the same protections that currently prevent police officers from searching through people’s paper documents, mailboxes, homes, and possessions without a warrant.

The Missouri House of Representatives voted 114-28 to put Amendment 9 (PDF) on the ballot. The measure would protect “all electronic communications and data from unreasonable searches and seizures,” and states that all warrants must give “probable cause, supported by written oath or affirmation.”

“It is essential to our freedoms and liberty that the laws of this state have provisions in place protecting the privacy of its citizens,” said Sen. Rob Schaaf (R-34), who sponsored the bill. “As technology continues to advance and concerns grow regarding government intrusion in the digital age, this proposed amendment would bring our state constitution into the 21st Century.”

Amendment 9 has overwhelming cross-party support from both politicians and activists. The ACLU of Missouri called it a “common sense measure,” stating that current privacy protections are “quaint and obsolete” in the face of new technologies and government power.

“Government surveillance programs have gone too far, sweeping in massive amounts of data on ordinary Americans, and giving law enforcement unfettered access to too many of our private communications. This violates the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure,” the ACLU-MO said.

The measure also got support from groups that focus on opposing federal regulations. The Tenth Amendment Center noted that current laws on electronic privacy have not kept up with new technologies. “Our correspondence and other ‘papers’ don’t become less sensitive simply because we store them in electronic form,” Michael Maharrey, national communications director of the Tenth Amendment Center, said in a press release.

The bill has “national implication,” Maharrey said. “We have the potential to blanket the country with constitutional provisions specifically extending privacy protection to electronic information and data. This would ensure state-level respect for privacy rights and address a practical effect of federal spying, regardless of how things play out in Congress or in federal courts.”

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police must have warrants to search the cell phones of people they arrest.

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“Modern cellphones are not just another technological convenience,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the unanimous court decision. “With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans the privacies of life.”

But the ruling only concerned cell phones of criminal suspects, rather than all electronic communications of every U.S. citizen, which government agencies are still able to track with “broad authority… to a disturbing extent,” ACLU-MO stated.

“Privacy protections under the Missouri Constitution need to be modernized to catch up to advances in technology that not only have radically altered the way people communicate and store information but also greatly enhanced the ability of government to snoop into the private affairs of its citizens,” said Rep. Jeanne Kirkton (D-91). “One need look no farther than the [NSA]’s mass collection of the electronic data and communications of millions of Americans without a warrant or even suspicion that any individual has committed a crime.”

Only one state Senator voted against Amendment 9. Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-14) said the proposal “could hamstring the courts when there may be more nuance required in interpreting what is ‘private communication’.”

“This idea that we can either be safe or free is just a false dichotomy,” Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of ACLU-MO, told KSDK last month. And he argued that the proposed amendment only enforces existing standards of legal procedures. “In the same way that our government shouldn’t be able to look at our snail mail without a warrant, the government shouldn’t be able to look through our email without a warrant,” Mittman told the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Rep. Paul Curtman (R-109) agreed, telling the Missouri legislature that the bill is a logical extension of the Fourth Amendment. “It makes perfect sense that if our hard-copy data is protected from unwarranted searches and seizures, that our electronic data also should be,” Curtman said during a recent session.

If the measure passes, Missouri will join a handful of states, including Texas and Maine, that have added broad electronic privacy measures to their state constitutions.

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Russians Strike Back Against Western Nations with One-Year Food Import Ban

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday officially announced Russia’s one year ban on a wide array of food imports—including beef, pork, fruit, vegetables and dairy products—from western nations as a response to economic sanctions imposed against it by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Norway.

According to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS:

The import restrictions—which Medvedev said are effective immediately—come as a clear response to continued and escalated economic sanctions levied by these western countries against Russia over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The Obama administration and Congress have repeatedly called for tougher measures against Moscow for what they term as Russian “interference” in Ukraine where rebels in eastern regions remain in a protracted and increasingly deadly battle against the Ukraine Army. Though with more hesitancy, the EU countries have steadily increased their sanctions against Russia, which have closed down its access to financial markets and manufactured products.

The rebels in the east—who maintain control of areas in and around the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk—see the government in Kiev, which came to power in a coup earlier this year, as illegitimate and a threat to their Russian identities and regional autonomy. While the Kiev government has received steady support and financial backing from the U.S. and the EU, Moscow has attempted to broker a political settlement that acknowledges and protects the interests of those living in the east, closer to its border.

According to Reuters:

The United Nations warned this week that the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine is becoming increasingly dire.

On Thursday, the Ukraine Army shelled a hospital in the city of Donetsk, killing at least one person and injuring others. Separate shelling claimed other lives overnight. According to the Associated Press:

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Argentina to Cut Out US Hedge Funds

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced this week that the government would be attempting to sidestep the demands of aggressive U.S. vulture funds by establishing international payments for creditors through its own state-run Banco de la Nación as opposed to the U.S. bank. The move is seen as an affront to a U.S. court order which had sided with a number of hedge funds looking to profit from degraded Argentinian bonds afterf the nation voluntarily defaulted on portions of its international debt in 2001.

Agence France Presse writes:

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Argentina went into default at the end of July. The plan would allow the government to skirt a New York judge’s ruling that blocked bond payments to all creditors, after Argentina refused to reimburse a group of hedge funds led by billionaire Paul E. Singer.

The Guardian reports:

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Progressive economists welcomed Argentina’s decision. Offering his explanation of the dynamics, co-director of the Center for Economic & Policy Research Dean Baker, said:

Also coming out against the position of the vulture funds recently was Nobel-prize economist Joseph Stiglitz, who wrote:

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NATO Summit Casts Shadow over Ukrainian Peace Efforts

Posted on October 14, 2020 by bamdj

While NATO leaders met in Wales for the first session of a two-day summit on Thursday—where issues related to eastern Ukraine were among the chief topics—officials made hopeful progress towards a negotiated settlement of the conflict in the region. Both Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and key leaders of the rebel forces aligned against him announced that a cease fire could begin after a round of settlement talks scheduled for Friday.

Those talks—held in Minsk, Belarus and including the representatives from the so-called ‘Contact Group,’ which includes Ukraine, rebel factions, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)—have been held as series of discussions since last week when Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir met on the sidelines of regional trade talks.

While attending the NATO summit on Thursday, Poroshenko announced that if Friday’s meeting in Minsk takes place and an agreement can be reached, he would “call on the general staff to set up a bilateral cease-fire, and we hope that the implementation of the peace plan will begin tomorrow.”

Poroshenko’s stated willingness to entertain the truce and additional peace talks is reportedly echoed by separatist forces. According to Reuters:

On Wednesday, Putin put forth a seven-part settlement plan that all parties have shown at least some willingness to consider.

Speaking from the summit in Wales, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen—not generally friendly towards Russia’s position on the crisis—offered his cautious acceptance of Putin’s proposal.

“On [Putin’s] so-called peace plan, let me stress that we welcome all efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine,” Rasmussen said. He added, however, NATO would continue “to call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukrainian borders, stop the flow of weapons and fighters into Ukraine, stop the support for armed militants in Ukraine and engage in a constructive political process.”

One of the key NATO measures under discussion at the Wales summit is whether or not the alliance will approve deployment of a “rapid reaction force”—what Rasmussen has called a “spearhead” against Russia—in eastern Europe. Experts have warned—and Moscow has clearly stated—that such moves by NATO would be considered provocative, but indications from the NATO leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, were that such military expansion would be approved.

Countering NATO charges that Russia’s behavior near the Ukraine border should be considered “illegal” by the international community, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the military alliance’s continued bellicosity and moves to bolster its military posture along the Russian border in eastern Europe were only serving to undermine the truce efforts in Ukraine.

As the Guardian reports, Lavrov “warned on Thursday that Ukraine’s Nato ambitions were threatening to derail peace talks in eastern Ukraine. In televised remarks, Lavrov said statements by senior government officials in Kiev that they would be seeking to join Nato were ‘a blatant attempt to derail all the efforts’ to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.”

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