Here’s a little news brief just in time for Father’s Day.
Yesterday Bloomberg News’ Michael Riley reported there are thousands of companies that share sensitive data with the US government:
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency.
The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google, Inc. (GOOG) and other Internet companies under court order.
Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said.
Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries.
Earlier this week Daily Kos featured a diary by Lisa Lockwood on how to better insure your privacy for your emails and web browsing. The diary has a direct link to a website called PRISM Break, and it’s worthwhile to check it out for your Father’s Day web-browsing enjoyment and privacy.
In the meantime, over the weekend I will be keeping up with my friends in Istanbul who are part of the Turkish uprising. That means I will be on Facebook, which is our only direct link to each other. Since it’s a little too late to disguise or deny my sympathies for the Diren Gezi Parki (Occupy Gezi Park) Movement — a movement which also protests government overreach — I am going to continue with what I am doing.
And to all the flesh-and blood-dads out there of any stripe and gender, I am sending my true love and kisses. Have a great Father’s Day weekend.
The prize is Iran. Syria, Turkey, all pawns to get there. With the information coming out the push to step up the war program will intensify as government attempts to cover over what they are doing at home. We are in the swirl of chaos theory.
Today I move back to Vermont, home of Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben and birthplace of Chris Hedges, and me for that matter. My telephone and internet activity will not be recorded by the small communications company that handles my service. At least for the moment. For years Vermont has had a movement to secede from the Union. Perhaps someday they will.
Obama/Biden. Osama bin Laden. Who really are the terrorists?
One of the things I love most about this blog is the amazing connection of astrologers such as yourselves, be and Len, and the Sensitives who come to this meeting place.
Be: I think Snowden’s story is unfolding, as you infer. That is why I am neutral on him at the moment.
Len:
In regards to Syria, the watchwords are really Iran, Russia and Israel. It’s going to be a mirror world and some of the mirrors are broken and in shards. A volatile place to walk through. Turkey’s Erdogan needs to pull back on his hard line rhetoric and the country needs to settle back down. But settle back down through the true will of the Turkish people. He picked a hell of a time going into his autocratic bubble mode, right during the square of the planets of revolution and big static institutions .
I have to wonder about the timing, the distraction, and the whole game. He is selling off plots of beautiful Istanbul to the tourist trade from the West. In many ways its a micro of what’s going on here, an echo of us and a high stakes game.
Must have been a flashback – it was David Brooks, (not Gergen) who described Snowden as narcissistic! /be
Thank you Fe for your news brief on a Friday evening; it’s appreciated! Just watched the PBS News Hour and David Gergen used a word to describe Edward Snowden that had not occurred to me; he called him a narcissist. Upon checking Snowden’s natal asteroid Narcissus, I found it to be at 11 Cancer 43 and opposite transiting Pluto now retrograde. Except for his Scorpio Moon, Snowden has no relevant water influence in his chart. This elemental imbalance (Snowden’s chart is primarily influenced by air and fire) would make him extra vulnerable to an opposition from Pluto in earth sign Capricorn, especially since he had just passed through a Saturn return last year.
Also, his natal Hybris at 14+ Aries is conjunct his natal Juno at 14+ Aries (and Eris at 15+ Aries). This would form a T-square (his Juno-Hybris-Eris square his Narcissus) when combined with the U.S. Saturn at 14+ Libra (which squares the U.S. Sun which conjuncts his natal Narcissus). Because all of his major planets are between the signs Gemini and Sagittarius (a bowl pattern), transiting Uranus in Aries (and Neptune in Pisces too) is likely experienced by Snowden as energy coming from outside himself (ie Juno). Trans. Uranus had been at the 11th degree of Aries (square natal Narcissus) since mid-May until this past Tuesday and will return there retrograde in August. Uranus will reach 14 Aries starting at the end of April 2014, but Pluto will return to 11 Capricorn on Christmas Day 2013. It would seem that Edward Snowden is playing a part in a divine plan to further the evolutionary process for the United States and all of its citizens.
As for the Turkish uprising, I hope you WILL continue with what you are doing. Many thanks.
be
Fe: Speaking of Syria. Do you think it’s possible that Syria is being used as a proving ground for arms merchants to demonstrate their wares for prospective clients? i know that sounds just awful (and please forgive me that), but Syria is an awfully bad place for all living beings right now.
Len:
mwah.
I also need to also keep an eye out on Turkey because we’re arming Syrian rebels. At this point, the specifics on that are elusive. There is much to discern still.
Fe: Thank you so very much for raising our consciousness, for the service of access to alternatives, and for your sharing your connection to the advocates social justice in Turkey.
Heart and soul themselves consistently find their eloquent expression in and through you.
It’s like a direct line to the highest and best participation in the human race.