US flag will fly in Havana for 1st time in 54 years. “A new stage will begin…toward normalization,” Pres. Raul Castro Sources: CNN. NBC. In 1959, Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution. The revolution ousted US-backed President Fulgencio Batista. Castro instituted a socialist state & seized US property. He also executed former officials from President Batista regime. In 1961, the …
Obama Admin asks secret FISA court to re-start dragnet. Source article from The Guardian This post sponsored by RecipeSchmecipe.com The Backdrop By Susan Modaress @SusanModaress After weeks of political showdown, infighting and drama, the Senate finally passed the USA Freedom Act, a bill to reform provisions of one of the National Security Agency’s most controversial surveillance programs, The US Patriot Act, …
Millions of federal employees’ personal info stolen. Source article on CNN.com Create your own user feedback survey US officials say nearly every government agency was hacked. Personal information of 4 million federal employees was stolen. Investigators say the breach was traced to China. Officials claim China is building a database of Americans’ info. The breach didn’t affect uniformed military personnel. …
Appeals court says NSA’s meta data collection illegal. NSA collects MOST of our texts, calls, emails, & web traffic. All of that is completely legal, in part, thanks to the Patriot Act. Part of the data they collect is called “meta data.” Meta data is info about calls: the numbers and length of call. After Snowden revelations, the ACLU (and …
Yemen ceasefire; US DEA Head Resigns Yemen Ceasefire Saudi Arabia (SA) will stop bombing Houthi rebels on Tues. After a month, SA has weakened the Houthis across Yemen. Including the capital, Sanaa, and port city of Aden. Humanitarian aid will come in and political talks will start. Head of DEA Resigns Michele Leonhart is expected to step down as head …
Obama asks Congress to remove Cuba from terror list. In the 80’s, Cuba helped armed insurgencies in Latin America. As a result, Cuba is on USA’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. In Dec., Obama said he would normalize relations w/ Cuba. He met with Raul Castro last Saturday in Panama. Last week, the State Dept. said to remove them …
NSA/GCHQ stole millions of SIM cards’ encryption keys. The GCHQ is Britain’s NSA. Your phone’s SIM card contains a secret encryption key. Your carrier/provider also has that same encryption key. To connect, your SIM and provider check that they keys match. If they do, all communication between them is encrypted. Carriers like Verizon, AT&T do not make their own SIM …
Obama to designate millions of acres as wilderness The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is on Alaska’s North coast. Oil drilling in all of ANWR’s 19mil acres is currently off limits. That issue has been hotly debated in Congress since the 70’s. But ~7mil acres of ANWR are designated as “Wilderness.” That means those areas permanently off limits to oil drilling. …
After 50+ years, Cuba/US relations cool Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government in 1959. Cuba and US severed diplomatic and economic ties in 1961. On 12/17, Obama announced they would “normalize” relations. Exactly what that means is still being negotiated. Opening Cuban economy and lifting travel bans are expected. US/Cuba traded prisoners, including American Alan Gross. Dissidents say this legitimizes …
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel resigns Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool. Get extra stories free! Check out our previous emails. Powered by MailChimp