AT&T is on the CIA payroll

Business + Government = Big Brother

Government gets around the Bill of Rights by having so-called "private" companies spy on their customers for them.

The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials.

The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, according to the officials. The C.I.A. supplies phone numbers of overseas terrorism suspects, and AT&T searches its database and provides records of calls that may help identify foreign associates, the officials said.

The company has a huge archive of data on phone calls, both foreign and domestic, that were handled by its network equipment, not just those of its own customers reports the New York Times.
      

 

The program adds a new dimension to the debate over government spying and the privacy of communications records, which has been focused on National Security Agency programs in recent months.

 

The disclosure sheds further light on the ties between intelligence officials and communications service providers. And it shows how agencies beyond the N.S.A. use metadata — logs of the date, duration and phone numbers involved in a call, but not the content — to analyze links between people through programs regulated by an inconsistent patchwork of legal standards, procedures and oversight.

 

Because the C.I.A. is prohibited from spying on the domestic activities of Americans, the agency imposes privacy safeguards on the program, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because it is classified.

Most of the call logs provided by AT&T involve foreign-to-foreign calls, but when the company produces records of international calls with one end in the United States, it does not disclose the identity of the Americans and “masks” several digits of their phone numbers, the officials said.
      

Still, the agency can refer such masked numbers to the F.B.I., which can issue an administrative subpoena requiring AT&T to provide the uncensored data. The bureau handles any domestic investigation, but sometimes shares with the C.I.A. the information about the American participant in those calls, the officials said.

      

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the C.I.A., declined to confirm the program.

 

The Goldman Sachs Bribery of Hillary Clinton - Everyone is Lining their Pockets with Cash

Retroactive Bribery

• If Goldman Sachs handed an envelope with $400,000 in it to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for "services rendered" both sides can go to jail.
• But if Goldman Sachs handed an envelope with $400,000 in it to ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for past "services rendered" then it is legal.
• Corporations and unions have discovered a legal way to bribe politicians  -  monstrously huge fees for making a boring, short and forgettable 30 minute speech.  
• Line the right pockets of the special interest groups with taxpayer cash and they will make you wealthier that your wildest dreams.

"Corruptus in Extremis"  -  A now "retired" Hillary Rodham Clinton has plunged into the lucrative world of paid speechmaking, joining a branch of the family business that has brought the Clintons more than $100 million since her husband left the White House in 2001.

Hillary Clinton spoke at two separate Goldman Sachs events on the evenings of Thursday, October 24 and Tuesday, October 29. As both Politico and the New York Times report, Clinton’s fee is about $200,000 per speech, meaning she likely netted around $400,000 for her paid gigs at Goldman over the course of six days.

Last Thursday, Clinton spoke for the AIMS Alternative Investment Conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, a closed event exclusively for Goldman clients. AIMS is an annual conference that explores the latest strategies and products available to financial advisers.

At the event, Clinton offered what one attendee described to me as “prepared remarks followed by questions,” reports National Review.

On Tuesday, Clinton spoke at the Builders and Innovators Summit, devoted to discussing entrepreneurship and how to help innovators expand and grow their businesses.

According to Politico, Clinton conducted a question-and-answer session with Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the subject of her remarks or why Mrs. Clinton in particular was invited to the events.

Keeping close to the investment world, Clinton also made visits to private-equity firms KKR in July and the Carlyle Group in September.

At KKR’s annual investor meeting in California, Clinton answered questions from firm co-founder Henry Kravis on the Middle East, Washington, and politics. At Carlyle Group, Clinton made a speech to shareholders moderated by Carlyle founder David Rubenstein.

Clinton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Magic money falls from the sky

"Magic" special interest money just falls from the sky and somehow manages to land

right in the wallets of the corrupt politicians.

The $100 Million Couple
Bill and Hillary did not have jack shit in the way of money because Bill worked a lifetime as a low paid Arkansas elected official.  But "very grateful" special interest groups have paid the Clintons more than $100 million since they left the White House in 2001.
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Now everyone in Washington is sucking hard on the special interest teats.  Congressmen, Senators and hack appointees alike are legally "rewarded" for past services rendered with jobs on corporate boards, speaking fees or being hired as lobbyists.

Hollywood funds Obamacare propaganda

Left wing group given $500,000 grant to help work Obamacare into TV and movie scripts

If you’re sick and tired of TV news broadcasts spewing pro-Obamacare propaganda, get ready to be inundated with even more progressive health care proselytizing in the dramas and comedies that follow those news shows.

For this you have the left-wing California Endowment to thank. The radical philanthropy is in the news because it is funding Obamacare public outreach efforts.

As Newsmax reports, the Obama administration is “turning its focus on prime time television series, using the influential platform and the power of celebrity to spread the word about its healthcare initiative.”

With the White House’s blessing, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Norman Lear Center, which has something called a “Hollywood, Health & Society program,” has accepted a $500,000 grant from the left-wing California Endowment to help TV producers condition the masses into supporting Obama’s Soviet-style health care program.

USC will aim to keep producers, writers, and directors up to speed so they can incorporate the latest information into their storylines. It will also generate public service announcements to match the TV shows’ storylines.

“Our experience has shown that the public gets just as much, if not more, information about current events and important issues from their favorite television shows and characters as they do from the news media and online resources,” said Martin Kaplan, who heads the USC program, in a statement. “This grant will allow us to ensure that industry practitioners have up-to-date, relevant facts on health care reform to integrate into their storylines and projects.”

Half of the funding will be devoted to Spanish-language programming.

The USC program's advisory board contains several influential television executives, Deadline Hollywood found. Among them Jennifer Cecil, co-executive producer of "Hostages," Vince Gilligan, creator of "Breaking Bad" and Chris Nee, the executive producer of Disney Jr.'s "Doc McStuffins."

They join several high profile actors and actresses who have stepped up to lend their names and time to promoting the Obamacare message to a mass audience. Most recently, Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson completed a viral parody video of the popular "Scandal" series, which is set in a fictional White House, for Will Ferrell's "Funny or Die" online spots.

In July, a group of celebrities, including Hudson, visited Washington to meet with the president and his staff and to learn what they could do to assist in advance of the program's rollout, The Hollywood Reporter, said at the time.

"The president stopped by the meeting to engage artists who expressed an interest in helping to educate the public about the benefits of the health law," a White House official told the Hollywood Reporter. "The reach of these national stars spreads beyond the Beltway to fans of their television shows, movies and music—and the power of these artists to speak through social media is especially critical."

Cheesecake Factory, Hallmark, Disney, and Others Now Pushing Amnesty

Prepare to be Fucked

The Big Corporations are pushing their lackeys in Congress to legalize

millions of new workers to compete against Americans for jobs.

Endless Immigration & Unemployment  -  The giant corporations are calling for their bought and paid for hacks in Congress to "reform" immigration and legalize and import millions of new workers to compete directly with American citizens for work.

The pro-immigration liars in both parties ignore the fact that countless millions of American citizens are under and unemployed.  They don't care as long as wages are kept down for their corporate master who fund their campaigns.

The liars in Congress have already been pushing a bill giving 55,000 green cards a year to import doctoral and masters graduates to take jobs from Americans.

On Tuesday, the chief human resources officers of more than 100 large corporations sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging quick passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill.



The officials represent companies with a vast array of business interests: General Electric, The Walt Disney Company, Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, McDonald's Corporation, The Wendy's Company, Coca-Cola, The Cheesecake Factory, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications, Hewlett-Packard, General Mills, and many more.

All want to see increases in immigration levels for low-skill as well as high-skill workers, in addition to a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally reports the Washington Examiner.

A new immigration law, the corporate officers say, "would be a long overdue step toward aligning our nation's immigration policies with its workforce needs at all skill levels to ensure U.S. global competitiveness." The officials cite a publication of their trade group, the HR Policy Association, which calls for immigration reform to "address the reality that there is a global war for talent."

The way for the United States to win that war for "talent", they say, is more immigration.

Here is the track record of a few of the companies who signed the letter.

• 29,000 laid off 2012 by Hewlett-Packard
• 12,000 laid off over 3 years by Cisco Systems
• 3,000 to be laid off this year by United Technologies
• 5,400 to be laid off this year by American Express
• 5,700 laid off in 2012 by Procter & Gamble
• 2,250 laid off in 2012 by T-Mobile

There are more still. In all, it's fair to say a large number of the corporate signers of the letter demanding more labor from abroad have actually laid off workers at home in recent years. Together, their actions have a significant effect on the economy. According to a recent Reuters report, U.S. employers announced 50,462 layoffs in August, up 34 percent from the previous month and up 57 percent from August 2012.

"It is difficult to understand how these companies can feel justified in demanding the importation of cheap labor with a straight face at a time when tens of millions of Americans are unemployed," writes the Center for Immigration Studies, which strongly opposes the Senate Gang of Eight bill and similar measures. "The companies claim the bill is an 'opportunity to level the playing field for U.S. employers' but it is more of an effort to level the wages of American citizens."

"Black Americans need not apply."
The youth unemployment rate for African Americans is 28.2%.  But politicians from both parties ignore Blacks in favor of Hispanics who are citizens of foreign nations.
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Looks like pro-Hispanic and anti-Black racism.
.(bls.gov/news.release) 

Your TV is spying on you for Big Brother

"National Health? Socialized pension funds? State-controlled television?
Search and seizure laws? Forfeiture laws? If we're not living in the
Soviet Union of the United States, we certainly have returned to
1776 and 'taxation without representation.' "
-- Michael Moriarty
Actor (2nd from right) and jazz musician

Big Brother Alert

Cameras in your cable box are watching you

Congressman acts to prohibit corporations from

spying on you without your permission.

It hardly gets more Orwellian than this.  New technology would allow cable companies to peer directly into television watchers’ homes and monitor viewing habits and reactions to product advertisements.

The technology would come via the cable box, and at least one lawmaker on Capitol Hill is standing in opposition.

Mass. Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano has introduced a bill, the We Are Watching You Act, to prohibit the technology on boxes and collection of information absent consumer permission.

The bill would also require companies that do use the data to show “we are watching you” messages on the screen and to explain just what kinds of information is being captured and for what reasons, reports the Washington Times.

The technology includes cameras and microphones that are installed on DVRs or cable boxes and analyzes viewers’ responses, behaviors and statements to various ads — and then provides advertisements that are targeted to the particular household.

Specifically, the technology can monitor sleeping, eating, exercising, reading and more, AdWeek reported.

“This may sound preposterous, but it’s neither a joke nor an exaggeration,” said Mr. Capuano in a statement, AdWeek reported. “These DVRs would essentially observe consumers as they watch television as a way to super-target ads. It is an incredible invasion of privacy.”


Verizon's New DVR Will Spy On You

The Verizon Detection Zone
Your living room becomes ground zero for 1984.
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Verizon patents targeted advertising that watches TV viewers.  The new patent describes how targeted ads can be sent to TV viewers based on information collected from infrared cameras, microphones and other devices that capture the conversations and moods of the people watching.
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Called Verizon Detection Zone, the system would pick up conversations, people, objects and animals that are near a TV. For example, if the system determines that a couple is arguing, a service provider would be able to send an ad for marriage counseling to a TV or mobile device in the room.
See our article: Verizon DVR will spy on you inside your home .




 

Verizon - An Agent for Big Brother.
Verizon already shares your private phone and Internet information with Big Brother without your permission or a search warrant.  Now Verizon will be recording your private conversations in your home.  Take a guess how long it will take for government to tap into those cameras and microphones.