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WikiLeaks Click here for Wikileaks NewManning Hearing

Moves Into 'Secret' Sessions Investigators claim that they found mentions of Julian Assange’s name of Manning’s personal computer, as well as a mention to the nation of Iceland, both of which seemed “out of place” and they say proves that he was the source of the massive dump of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks founder helped Army private get data, prosecutors say They say chat logs show Julian Assange's role in the leak of U.S. secrets that led to charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Wikileaks cable raises controversy among prominent Egypt political The leaks have raised controversy and ire in Egypt, especially among those figures whose names were mentioned in the leaked cables, and highlighted by the al-Wafd news website. The cables, signed by the former US Ambassador to Cairo during ousted President Hosni Mubarak`s era, Margaret Scobey, said that the figures attended frequent meetings with the ambassador. The controversy was increased after al-Wafd highlighted the cable in a report referencing the America In Arabic news agency, which stated the cable mentioned that the Embassy funded these activists.

Palm Beach Sugar Barons Accused in WikiLeaks Cables  Palm Beach sugar barons Pepe and Alfy Fanjul, who lavish both the Republican and Democratic parties with millions in contributions, were accused of trying to sabotage U.S. foreign policy and corrupting foreign politicians in diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks Backers Lose Bid to Keep Twitter Data From US

Tribunal recommends court martial for Bradley Manning  A U.S. military tribunal is recommending a court martial for Army Private Bradley Manning for allegedly funneling thousands of classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks, the US Army said Thursday.

Hackers intercept FBI, Scotland Yard call  They trade jokes, chuckle and talk shop about a hacker plot called "Project Mayhem.

#Anonymous hack the #Greek Justice Ministry's website "What is going on in your country is unacceptable. You were chosen by your people to act on behalf of them and express their wishes. But you have derogatorily failed. You have killed the most sacred element your country had, and that is democracy."

Group Hacks, Defaces Boston Police Department Website...

Goes After Marine In Iraq Case

Security Issues

FDA doctors, scientists claim illegal surveillance  The FDA secretly monitored the private emails of staff doctors and scientists who alleged the agency was approving medical devices that posed a danger to patients.

U.S. no-fly list more than doubles in a year A secret U.S. government list of suspected terrorists has more than doubled in the past year, according to government figures provided to The Associate Press.

More US Soldiers Committed Suicide Than Died in Combat

0001.pdf List of Websites the DHS Is Monitoring 

Major Antivirus Company Admits To Hacker Breach

US to cut almost 100,000 troops  The US will cut 100,000 troops from its armed forces, the Pentagon says, as it unveils plans to save $487bn over the next decade.

US Military Manipulates the Social Media The US military is developing software that will allow it to secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda

Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global This Christmas will not be a happy one for George Friedman (who incidentally was the focus of John Mauldin's latest book promotion email blast) and his Stratfor Global Intelligence service, because as of a few hours ago, hacking collective Anonymous disclosed that not only has it hacked the Stratfor website (since confirmed by Friedman himself), but has also obtained the full client list of over 4000 individuals and corporations, including their credit cards (which supposedly have been used to make $1 million in "donations",

CIA's IG finds no problem with NYPD partnership The CIA says its inspector general has found nothing wrong with the spy agency's close partnership with the New York Police Department. The inspector general concluded that no laws were broken and there was no evidence the CIA was conducting domestic spying.

Oil Spill

BP gets $250 million from Gulf of Mexico subcontractor

BP ordered to share spill damages  BP must cover some but not all of oil rig owner Transocean's liabilities for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a US judge rules.

Whistleblower: BP Sought to Alter Cleanup Data

Environment

Like Fracking? You'll Love 'Super Fracking'

Northeast Ohio rocked by 11th earthquake linked to Youngstown injection  The quake was the 11th over the last eight months in Mahoning County, all within two miles of the injection wells, he said. Saturday’s quake was the largest yet.  There is “little doubt” that the quake is linked to injection wells that the state and the owner agreed on Friday to shut down, Hansen said.

How an Ex-Wall-Street Power Player Embraced the Occupy Movement

Warren Langley ran the Pacific Exchange through 1999. On Friday, he'll be marching on the banks.

Police/Prison

Brutal Crimes Grip an Indian Reservation A two-year federal crime-fighting initiative at the Wind River Indian Reservation, where the crime rate is five to seven times the national average, has had little effec

Oakland Police Fire Tear Gas, Arrest Nearly 400 Protesters In Turbulent Day That break-in culminated a day of clashes between protesters and police. Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said nearly 400 people were arrested on charges ranging from failure to disperse and vandalism. At least three officers and one protester were injured.

Occupy protest seizes UC Davis building, blocks bank

CIA collaboration with New York Police Department was never legally approved

Cop filmed beating senior suffering from dementia

Megaupload shutdown sparks new fears about Web content sharing FBI’s action raises a bevy of questions about who oversees copyright on the Web and how far the government can go.

CIA To Pull Officer From NYPD After Internal Probe

Brutal police raid brings Occupy Albany to an end

Man Dressed In Santa Suit Shoots 6 Relatives And Himself, Police Say

9 shot at Tenn. nightclub Christmas party

Police arrest 4 protesters, clear Occupy camp in Bellingham, W

Four Firebombs Target Muslims in Queens  Video released Monday shows a person throwing a Molotov cocktail toward a residence in New York City that also serves as a Hindu temple in one of three such attacks reported by police in the city. The other two targets on Sunday night were an Islamic center and a bodega, all of them in the Queens borough of the city, authorities said Monday.

4 charged after 2 U.S. flags burned at Occupy Charlotte site

Feds to probe why Ted Stevens witness Bill Allen wasn't tried in teen sex case The Justice Department has agreed to investigate whether there was misconduct involved in federal prosecutors’ decision to stonewall the teen sex crime case against disgraced former Veco Corp. chairman Bill Allen.  The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility wrote Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski telling her it will launch a “preliminary inquiry into the misconduct allegations you have raised.” Murkowski, who released a copy of the letter on Friday, wrote the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Justice Department’s inspector general in November asking for the investigation.

NYPD Admits Using Anti-Muslim Film for Training

Iran Sentences American To Death For Spying A former U.S. Marine interpreter arrested while on a trip to visit his Iranian grandmothers has been sentenced to death as a CIA spy, state radio reported Monday, in a case likely to become a new flashpoint in the escalating tensions between Tehran's defiance over its nuclear program and Washington's efforts to impose more crippling sanctions.

American Rights At Work Releases Holiday Gift Guide Labor organization American Rights at Work released its holiday gift buying guide this week, spotlighting gifts and holiday supplies from union companies who manufacture products made in America. A printable version of the guide can be found online.

Church Bans Gay Clergy Leaders From Speaking At Holiday Services

Hurricane Katrina Victims Fight To Keep FEMA Aid Money

FDA criticised for antibiotics U-turn Environmental groups dismayed after agency drops long-held plan to regulate use of human antibiotics fed to healthy animals

Forcibly sterilized woman felt 'butchered' Rape victim Elaine Riddick was 14 when North Carolina decided she was not capable of mothering children and cauterized her fallopian tubes. The $50,000 now offered to her only makes her angrier.

UBS’s ‘mega-client’ comes under scrutiny At one end of the story lies UBS, the Swiss banking group whose wealth management arm counts dozens of billionaires as clients. At the other is Anil Ambani, the Indian businessman whose Reliance group of companies spans interests ranging from communication to entertainment. For years, financial regulators in the UK and India have tried to piece together a complex chain of money transfers, examining whether UBS employees helped Mr Ambani to set up an offshore investment fund that allowed him to invest in Indian securities, in violation of Indian law.

Cancer charity halts grants to Planned Parenthood

Greed

Jeb Bush Lobbied On Behalf Of Infamous Medicare Swindler, Says Former HHS Secretary

Einhorn fined for insider dealing Hedge fund manager who rose to prominence in credit crunch penalised for 'market abuse' relating to pub group shares

Bank Of America’s Offer To Homeowners: We’ll Modify Loans If You’ll Erase All The Mean Things Said About Us On Twitter

Media

Verizon’s Cable Spectrum Mashup: Evil Genius?

A pessimistic view is that the deals could lead to consumers’ getting stuck five or 10 years out with slower broadband than the rest of the world and no competitive impetus to move the U.S. forward. On the wireless side, the purchases of spectrum potentially eliminate the threat or the existence of a new player that could lower prices and keep Verizon and AT&T “honest.” That’s why Congress, the FCC, and perhaps the Justice Dept. should ask a lot of questions about these deals and the attendant marketing agreements between the cable companies and Verizon.

Five More Arrested in News Corp Phone Hacking Scandal

CNN Under Fire After Uncut Version Of Ron Paul Interview Surfaces

After OWS, U.S. Drops in Press Freedom RankingsThe U.S. tumbled 27 places in the latest edition of the annual Press Freedom Index, thanks in large part to the rough treatment of journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street protests that took place around the country this past year.

Right-wing media critic: Obama is like ‘a skinny, ghetto crackhead’

Fox News Gives Free Airtime For Employee Karl Rove’s Partisan Attack Ads One of Rove’s most powerful employers, Fox News, rewarded their employee’s partisan attack group with a lot of free airtime. The ad was featured on Fox’s Sean Hannity show, on Fox’s “The Five,” and during Fox’s daytime hours. On Hannity, Crossroad’s communications director Jonathan Collegio was invited to talk about the ad. Rove himself appeared as a guest on another show to tout his own ad.

Drug War

Do Harsh Pot Laws Create a Dangerous Drinking Culture? 5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk

Former State Lawmaker Charged In Massive Drug Ring Bust

Cocaine seizure at UN head office New A bag containing 16kg (35.5lb) of cocaine was seized last week at the United Nations headquarters in New York, say police.

U.S. Secretly Helped Drug Traffickers Smuggle Millions In Cash American drug enforcement agents posing as money launderers secretly helped a powerful Mexican drug trafficker and his principal Colombian cocaine supplier move millions in drug proceeds around the world, as part of an effort to infiltrate and dismantle the criminal organizations wreaking havoc south of the border, according to newly obtained Mexican government documents.

U.S. Secretly Helped Drug Traffickers Smuggle Millions In Cash

Drugs cause 90% of fatal poisonings Ninety percent of poisoning deaths in the United States are due to drugs, the federal government reported Tuesday. Drug poisoning deaths now outnumber traffic deaths as the leading cause of injury death in the country.

Selling the Drug War for $3 Billion? How the Pentagon Will Privatize an International War on Drugs

Ron Paul Right On Drug War's Origins Before the 20th Century there was none of that and it was the medical profession as well as many other trade groups that agitated for the laws. And you know there’s a pretty good case made that this same concept was built in with racism as well. We do know that opium was used by the Chinese and the Chinese were not welcomed in this country,” Paul said. “We do know that the blacks at times use heroin, opium and the laws have been used against them. There have been times that it has been recognized that the Latin Americans use marijuana and the laws have been written against them. But lo and behold the drug that inebriates most of the members of Congress has not been touched because they're up there drinking alcohol.” (In the same speech, Paul delves into drug trafficking and the CIA, which I’ll cover in a follow-up article.)

Education

Failure Rate of Schools Overstated, Study Says

Opting Out of Sex Ed … and Algebra In New Hampshire, students can avoid lessons a parent dislikes. Room for Debate asks if it benefits students, or society.

Virginia Opts To Keep Shorter School Year So Kids Have More Time To Ride Roller Coasters Yesterday, the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee put the interests of the tourism industry ahead of the needs of students by voting to kill three bills that would allow school boards to set their own calendar. The bills would have overturned the so called Kings Dominion Law, named for the amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. The law currently prohibits schools from starting before Labor Day, in an effort to boost late season tourism revenue:

Charter Schools Shut Down For Poor Academic Performance

Civil Rights

AT&T, Sprint Say Customers Agreed To Creepy Tracking Software

Feds: Sheriff Joe often targets Latinos Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has long engaged in the “unconstitutional policing” of Latino communities, the Department of Justice alleged Thursday.

U.S. asks journals to censor reports about how to make a deadlier ‘bird flu’ The request is a first for a federal panel set up after the anthrax attacks in 2001.

Courts

U.S. Justice Department indicts Swiss bank Wegelin The United States indicted Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, on charges that it enabled wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in offshore bank accounts, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

Convicted for words, not deeds  Verdict on Massachusetts Muslim marks further erosion of fundamental U.S. rights

Justices Say GPS Tracker Violated Privacy Rights The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that putting a tracking device on a suspect’s car violated his rights, although they differed on why

U.S. appeals ruling against dolphin-safe tuna labels  The United States on Friday appealed a World Trade Organization decision that accuses Washington of imposing overly stringent rules on dolphin-safe tuna from Mexico.

Ex-CIA Agent Charged With Leaking Classified Information To Journalists