Obama's TPP negotiators received huge bonuses from big banks

News Updates from CLG19 Feb 2014 - Part 2

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Previous edition: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks, Supporters

Looking for Part 1 of today's CLG Newsletter? NSAssociate Google Relegated 19 Feb 2014 CLG Newsletter to the Spam Bin Posted by Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 19 Feb 2014 CLG subscribers: If you use Gmail as your email provider, please go to your spam bin to retrieve Part 1 of today's CLG Newsletter. Perhaps Google did not like the subject line: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks, Supporters.

Obama's TPP negotiators received huge bonuses from big banks 18 Feb 2014 A controversial trade deal being touted by the White House is expected to give American corporations broad new authority if approved. Now according to newly released documents, big banks gave millions to the execs that are now orchestrating the agreement. Republic Report revealed on Tuesday that two former well-placed individuals within the ranks of Bank of America and CitiGroup were awarded millions of d-llars in bonuses before jumping ship to work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership on behalf of the White House.

David Miranda detention at Heathrow airport was lawful, high court rules 19 Feb 2014 Three high court judges have dismissed a challenge that David Miranda, the partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, was unlawfully detained under counter-terrorism powers for nine hours at Heathrow airport last August. The judges accepted that Miranda's detention and the seizure of computer material was "an indirect interference with press freedom" but said this was justified by legitimate and "very pressing" interests of national security. The three judges, Lord Justice Laws, Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Openshaw, concluded that Miranda's detention at Heathrow under schedule 7 of the Terrorism 2000 Act was lawful, proportionate and did not breach European human rights protections of freedom of expression.

Breaking false flag alert: Homeland Security Alerts Airlines to Possible Shoe-Bomb Threat 19 Feb 2014 The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday told airlines about a potential new shoe-bomb threat and urged them to pay extra attention to flights from overseas into the United States. Several officials familiar with the advisory told NBC News that "very recent intelligence" considered credible warns of possible attempts to attack passenger jets using explosives concealed in shoes. As a result, officials say, airlines will be playing extra attention to passenger shoes on flights to the US from overseas.

Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system 18 Feb 2014 The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place. The national license-plate recognition database, which would draw data from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, according to a DHS solicitation. But the database could easily contain more than 1 billion records and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, raising concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens who are under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.

Saudi Arabia reports another fatality from new, SARS-like virus; total deaths at 60 17 Feb 2014 Saudi Arabia says a Saudi man has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 60 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak. The Health Ministry said that the man died in a Riyadh hospital on Sunday. He was among four newly detected cases, bringing the number to 145 of people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September 2012, according to the ministry.

Anger as drought-hit California 'exports water' to China --During California's worst drought on record, some farmers agri-businesses are using precious water to grow hay that is then shipped to China 18 Feb 2014 California is suffering its worst drought on record. So why is America's most valuable farming state using billions of gallons of water to grow hay - specifically alfalfa - which is then shipped to China? "A hundred billion gallons of water per year is being exported in the form of alfalfa from California," argues Professor Robert Glennon from Arizona College of Law. Cheap water rights and America's trade imbalance with China make this not just viable, but profitable. It's now cheaper to send alfalfa from LA to Beijing than it is to send it from the Imperial Valley to the Central Valley.

Whistle-Blower Fired From Hanford Nuclear Site 18 Feb 2014 Whistle-blower Donna Busche, who raised safety concerns at the nation's most polluted nuclear weapons production site, was fired Tuesday from her job at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Busche's complaints are part of a string of whistle-blower and other claims related to the design and safety of an unfinished waste treatment plant at Hanford. Busche, 50, said she was called into the office Tuesday morning and told she was being fired for cause.

3 peace activists sentenced for breaking into nuclear site 18 Feb 2014 Three peace activists who intruded onto a nuclear weapons site in July 2012 were sentenced Tuesday to 35 months or 62 months in prison by a federal judge, three weeks after he ordered them to pay 53,000 in restitution for damaging the site's security systems and defacing a storage facility that contains the United States’ stockpile of weapons-grade uranium.

Chevron apologizes for fracking well explosion with coupons for free pizza --Residents affected by the massive explosion and fire are also eligible for a 2-liter bottle of soda. 18 Feb 2014 If, say, a fracking well explodes in your community, causing a fire that raged for five days and leaving one person presumed dead, you might get a free pizza out of it! The Philadelphia Daily News has confirmed that, following a massive explosion last Tuesday, Chevron's been making up to the good residents of Bobtown, Pa., by distributing g-ft certificates for one large pizza and a free 2-liter bottle of soda.

Bridge scandal: Fort Lee releases 2,211 pages requested by Christie lawyer 19 Feb 2014 The New Jersey borough at the center of the George Washington Bridge scandal today released 2,211 pages of documents it provided to lawyers working for Gov. Chris Christie's office. The records, which were given on Tuesday to Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor leading the governor's legal team, cover a wide spectrum of subjects that news reporters had inquired about in recent weeks... On Monday, an attorney for Mayor Mark Sokolich (D-Fort Lee) also declined to have his client sit down with Mastro for a private interview, or to voluntarily turn over records.

Bridge scandal panel asks judge to compel Christie advisers to produce records 19 Feb 2014 The attorney representing the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures filed a request today asking a judge to compel two former advisers to Gov. Chris Christie to answer a subpoena and produce records about their involvement in the controversy, the panel's co-chairs said today. The joint committee will seek an order from a Superior Court judge in Mercer County forcing political strategist Bill Stepien and former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to comply with the subpoenas requesting records related to the September closings, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Assemblyman John Wisniewski said (D-Middlesex).

Conservative group's anti-union effort to target U.S. auto plants 17 Feb 2014 A conservative group that helped defeat an organizing campaign by the United Auto Workers in Tennessee will take its anti-union fight to other auto plants in the South, its leaders said on Monday. The Center for Worker Freedom, which is linked to [corporate] anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, plans to renew its battle against the UAW at plants in Alabama and Mississippi where the union wants to organize. The UAW suffered a bitter setback on Friday when employees at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted 712 to 626 against joining the union, even though Volkswagen had remained neutral in the union drive.

Auto union loses historic election at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee 14 Feb 2014 The United Auto Workers was dealt a stinging defeat tonight, with a majority of employees at a Volkswagen plant here voting against joining the union after a high-profile opposition campaign led by Republican politicians and outside political corporate front groups. Company and union executives announced the outcome at a news conference at the plant, hours after polls closed. The results, still to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, were close: With 89 percent participation, 712 workers voted no, and 626 voted yes.

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