Top Stories
CIA Strategy: Collect All Data and Keep it Forever
Hunt said, “The database of useless information is 500 million gigabytes, the database of useful information is 5K. Our problem is, which 5K?”
“The value of any piece of information is only known when you can connect it with something else that arrives at a future point in time,” Hunt said. “Since you can’t connect dots you don’t have, it drives us into a mode of fundamentally trying to collect everything and hang on to it forever, forever being in quotes of course.”
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Floods and Drought? NOAA Says Get Used to It
Making drought conditions even worse, NOAA predicts hotter than usual temperatures across most of the continental U.S. and northern Alaska, with below-normal temperatures predicted only for the Pacific Northwest and northern Great Plains. Last year was the hottest year since recordkeeping began more than 100 years, with several weeks in a row of 100-plus-degree days and high temperature records shattered across the country.
Yet there will be water—just not where we want it. read more
Senate Explores Private and Law Enforcement Use of Drones in U.S.
The Fourth Amendment does protect against unauthorized surveillance or searches, and there are laws on the books that address spying by companies, for instance. But these legal protections were crafted long before drones came into existence. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said, “Just because the government may comply with the Constitution does not mean they should be able to constantly surveil, like Big Brother.” read more
Tons of DDT “Disappear” from Superfund Site
An estimated 110 tons of deadly DDT, lying for years on the ocean floor off the coast of Palos Verdes, California, has been recalculated to be around 14 tons, according to a report in Environmental Health News. And no one is quite sure what happened.
The contamination could have been overestimated before, underestimated now or unexpectedly dechlorinated into something harmless. Or the pesticide could have dissipated into the water where it would be absorbed by all manner of creatures. read more
Biotech Firms Slip in Amendment Allowing USDA to Overrule Courts on Genetically Engineered Crops
That rider (referred to by some opponents as the “Monsanto Protection Act”) authorizes the USDA to nullify any federal court decision that bans the use of GE crops.
Critics also noted that the provision was approved without any vetting in the agriculture or judiciary committees.
The only good news for opponents of the rider is that it can only be in effect for the life of the continuing resolution, which is about six months.
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Despite Supreme Court Decision, Obama Administration Insists GPS Tracking Doesn’t Require Warrant
In arguing that GPS vehicle tracking be a warrant-free tool of law enforcement, the Obama administration is claiming that the prevention of terrorism in the U.S.—in addition to fighting conventional crime and drug trafficking—is a primary reason that the court should rule in its favor. It also requests a lower standard that would allow police to attach GPS devices—merely “reasonable suspicion” rather than the Constitutional requirement of “probable cause.” read more
For the First Time, a Majority of Americans Say that Same-Sex Marriage should be Legal
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll (pdf) found that 58% back same-sex marriages, which represents quite a change from only three years ago when opponents still outnumbered supporters on the issue.
The shift in support occurred in part because of a change of opinion among some conservatives.
A slim majority of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents under the age of 50 now support gay marriages, according to the survey.
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Majority of Americans Think Iraq War Wasn’t Worth It
A recent Gallup poll also showed that a majority of Americans think the United States made a mistake sending troops to Iraq. In fact, according to Gallup, a majority of Americans have held this opinion since at least the summer of 2005.
Another poll, by the Pew Research Center, showed that only about 40% of Americans who fought there believed the reasons for going to war justified the costs, according to NBC News.
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Judge Rules National Security Letters Unconstitutional
NSLs allow the government to demand—without a warrant—that Internet service providers, libraries, banks, etc., hand over people’s confidential records, such as profile information, books checked out, phone numbers dialed, websites visited, and more. They are prone to abuse because they include an indefinite gag order barring the recipients from disclosing to anyone that they have even received an NSL. read more
California Running out of Workers Willing to Toil at Miserable Farm Jobs for Lousy Pay
The problem isn’t a labor shortage―not with unemployment still well above 7%. “In order to induce domestic workers to supply their labor to farm jobs, agricultural wages must rise apace with nonagricultural wages.”
As the growing season approaches and farm labor problems become more acute, growers may be left with only a few choices that they haven’t already tried―like a living wage and decent working conditions. read more
Minimum Wage, Factoring for Inflation, is Lower than in 1956
Fifty-seven years ago, the minimum wage was officially $1/hour. But its “real value” based on 2013 dollars would have been $8.39.
When the same thing conversion is made for the current wage of $7.25, its real value is only $7.80.
“Because there have been some extended periods between these adjustments while inflation generally has increased, the real value (purchasing power) of the minimum wage has decreased substantially over time,” the report states.
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VA Defies New York Gun Law; California Only State to Take Legal Guns from Prohibited Owners
About 20,000 gun owners in the state are barred from possessing firearms, including the mentally ill, convicted felons, and those subject to a domestic violence restraining order.
Last year, the state seized about 2,000 weapons, along with 117,000 rounds of ammunition and 11,000 high-capacity magazines. Thirty-three California Department of Justice agents are assigned to the task of tracking down and confiscating the disallowed guns.
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National Security Increasingly Cited in Freedom of Information Act Denials; EPA Suspected of Selective Obstruction
That email, written by EPA lawyer Geoffrey Wilcox, suggested various ways to derail FOIA requests. "One of the first steps is to alert the requestor that they need to narrow their request because it is overbroad,” wrote Wilcox, “and secondarily that it will probably cost more than the amount of $ they agreed to pay."
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One Third of Americans Own Guns, but Only 4% Go Hunting
34% of U.S. households possessed guns, according to a new national survey. But only 4.4% of Americans (13.7 million) went hunting, based on data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Much more often, Americans buy guns for self-defense, although two-thirds of gun-related deaths were suicides. read more
Obama Administration Considers Endless War against International Terrorism
Until now, the government has relied on the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), a joint resolution passed by Congress three days after 9/11, which served as the legal basis for hunting down Osama bin Laden and other leaders of al-Qaeda.
But the AUMF limited military action against terrorists to anyone connected to the 9/11 attacks. read more
Holder Claims Big Banks are Too Big to Jail
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in response to HSBC’s fine for laundering drug cartel money, “If you’re caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you go to jail. If you’re caught repeatedly, you can go to jail for life….If you launder nearly a billion dollars in drug money, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night.” read more