The Morning Roar: Bigger NSA Revelations Coming, Pot Laws Get Lax In Maryland, and Students Hate Michelle Obama's Lunches
Bigger NSA Revelations Forthcoming Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden appeared together, on split screen, via satellite at Amnesty International USA's annual human rights meeting to warn Americans that there was still much to fear from government surveillance. From Reuters:
The pair cautioned that government monitoring of "metadata" is more intrusive than directly listening to phone calls or reading emails and stressed the importance of a free press willing to scrutinize government activity.Metadata includes which telephone number calls which other numbers, when the calls were made and how long they lasted. Metadata does not include the content of the calls."Metadata is what allows an actual enumerated understanding, a precise record of all the private activities in all of our lives. It shows our associations, our political affiliations and our actual activities," said Snowden, dressed in a jacket with no tie in front of a black background.
In addition to Snowden and Greenwald's concerns, a new book is set to be released from German journalist Holger Stark, titled "The NSA Complex," in which he explains the way in which the organization taps into the fiber optic cables that are the backbone of the internet. From DW:
The NSA systematically taps fiber optic cables - the main arteries of Internet traffic conveying the largest streams of data. It engages some American companies as collaborators and cooperates with partner intelligence agencies abroad, including Germany's Federal Intelligence Service [also known by its German acronym, BND]. This system enables control of nearly the whole stream of relevant data and then processing it with sophisticated intelligence analysis programs to see what is important.I think we have grasped this principle, but the material is so extensive that we will still be seeing interesting and partly surprising and shocking reports about it over many months.
So...we can all look forward to that. The infringements on liberty and privacy undertaken by the government truly seem to be boundless.Md. House Of Delegates Passes Marijuana Decriminalization BillThe Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill that effectively decriminalizes marijuana in small (under 10g) amounts. While the "drug" will technically still be illegal, the penalty will now be a fine rather than a criminal sentence.
“The key is there will be civil penalties instead of criminal penalties for small amounts of marijuana,” said Del. Kieffer Mitchell Jr., (D) Baltimore.
It still needs the approval of the Governor to become official, but this looks like a done deal.The slow march that is the decriminalization of marijuana continues on. While the majority of the states still consider marijuana an illegal substance, the momentum is firmly behind eliminating at least this one item from the government's irrational list of what we can or cannot ingest of our own free will. Full story here.Students Go Viral To Combat Michelle Obama's School Lunch DictatorshipYears ago now, I had written an article expressing my opposition to Michelle Obama's lunch plan, which limits caloric intake and cuts portions available at lunch, as well as what items may or may not be included on a menu. Predictably, the First Lady's lunch program has been an utter failure and students are going to Twitter to express their disgust and anger.From The Blaze:
First, about one million public school students said “no way” to their cafeteria menus after Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign led to anger and frustration over food that apparently many American kids didn’t want to stomach.But for those without other options, all that’s left is the power of social media and cell phone cameras when they simply can’t take another bite:
Please do click through to the linked article above to enjoy more of these Twitter freedom fighters, valiantly exercising their First Amendment rights. It's highly entertaining. (Some explicit language).Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
