From the Atlantic:  … the GOP establishment is changing along with its elected officials; the RNC voted in a winter meeting to literally renounce NSA domestic surveillance. “It was passed by a voice vote as part of a package of RNC proposals,” Benjy Sarlin reports. “Not a single member rose to object or call for further debate,…

A second official advisory panel tells the government its NSA bulk collection of data is illegal and furthermore, has shown no benefit in fighting terrorism.  From NBC: A government advisory panel said Thursday that the bulk data collection program run by the National Security Agency is illegal and should be halted.   Recommendations by the…

CDC just published new guidelines for treatment of anthrax exposure and anthrax disease in pregnancy and the postpartum period.  It is said the guidelines are based on meetings  “of national subject matter experts to review key clinical elements of anthrax prevention and treatment for pregnant, postpartum, and lactating (P/PP/L) women.” A lot of effort was made…

I previously quoted former NSA official Russell Tice regarding NSA surveillance. The website WhoWhatWhy has posted a transcript (and video) of Mr. Tice’s July 10, 2013 interview on RT, and it contains some interesting tidbits. Of course, with respect to NSA surveillance, the big question is who gets and uses the information; who is running…

So much for keeping your computer safe from spying–or even insertions and deletions–by using it only as a typewriter and file cabinet.  Note the devices and programs used by NSA are at least 5 years old. Excerpts from the Times: WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the…

A longer report was published in Haaretz, with an excerpt below:  … In December 2008, the [Israeli Medical Association] investigative committee published a report, which found grave fault with the way in which soldiers were recruited for the experiment, and the unscrupulous methods for achieving the soldiers’ consent – which included failure to inform them…

From the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli MOD has settled with 100 former soldiers who were used in anthrax vaccine experiments and reported subsequent illnesses; money has been set aside to compensate other subjects in the trial who were not part of the original lawsuit. The Israeli MOD’s claim that the Israeli anthrax vaccine “is as…

Thanks to Lawrence Solomon, writing for Huffington Post, who explains that media’s approach to those who question vaccine safety defies rational explanation.  Highly regarded scientists, whose job it was to review the safety of vaccines, have persistent questions about their safety in large, unscreened populations (as do I).  Those who question vaccination programs are kooks…

California’s state Senate voted 31-1 to ban state officials and state corporations from participating with federal agencies to collect electronic data on any persons in a sweeping, rather than individual, fashion. Silicon Valley entities like Google are located in California; they have been ordered by federal officials to participate in surveillance activities.  This bill, if…