Category Archives: NSA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) released the third installment of the Security Guidance for 5G Cloud Infrastructures four-part series, which is intended to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data within a 5G core cloud infrastructure.

According to CISA and NSA, the third installment of the Security Guidance for 5G Cloud Infrastructures four-part series explains how to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Data protection is critical because our adversaries are constantly attempting to steal our sensitive data, said Natalie Pittore, chief of Enduring Security Framework (ESF) in NSAs Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. As the amount of data increases, it is even more important that we all prioritize securing data in all stages of its lifecycle. This guidance can help us do that.

In a press release, CISA and NSA said that their latest guidance for 5G cloud infrastructures explains how to protect data in transit, at rest, or in use through the use of encryption, cryptographic keys, and secure protocols.

Data in a network as vast as 5G cloud infrastructures cannot be secured by a solitary entity, said Morgan Adamski, the chief of NSAs Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. It takes the collaboration of government agencies and our industry partners. When we combine our unique perspectives, we can fit together the pieces of the puzzle and solve critical cybersecurity issues.

The organizations said that the latest release from the Enduring Security Framework, a public-private cross-sector working group led by NSA and CISA, provides best practices to secure data in 5G cloud environments.

Data is an incredibly valuable resource driving every industry in the modern world, noted Bob Kolasky, CISA assistant director for the National Risk Management Center. This makes it an especially attractive target for adversaries. This paper highlights the importance of government and industry coordination in addressing the complex task of protecting our critical data. As with the previous two parts of this series, CISA encourages the 5G community to review this guidance and take actionable steps to help strengthen the nations 5G cloud infrastructure.

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CISA and NSA Release Third Installment of 5G Cybersecurity Guidance - MeriTalk

Snowden will talk for sixty minutes about Web 3.0, data privacy and surveillance capitalism, and his use of cryptocurrency in the NSA leaks at the BlockDown: DeData Conference on December 3, 2021

London, United Kingdom, November 29, 2021 This Friday, Edward Snowden will be appearing at Blockdown: DeData, a virtual conference fully dedicated to the challenges and alternatives of ownership and consent in this new era where data is the most sought-after commodity.

The former American former computer intelligence consultant, famous for leaking highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 while a subcontractor for the Central Intelligence Agency, will join a sixty-minute fireside chat about the importance of Web 3.0, data privacy and surveillance capitalism in our increasingly digital world.

Last week, Snowdenan enthusiast for blockchain technology and cryptocurrenciesrevealed that he used Bitcoin to hide his identity when buying the servers that made the NSA leaks possible. You know that whole NSA story from almost TEN YEARS AGO? I paid for the servers that made that possible... using Bitcoin, he said in a tweet.

Credit: Mike Mozart

Snowdens revelations in 2013 uncovered the extensive network of global surveillanceprograms conducted by the United States and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance (the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, which prompted a global discussion about individual rights, privacy and the monitoring and abuse of personal data by governments.

Snowden will be appearing alongside privacy and security experts, industry leaders and academics, including David Chaumthe inventor of digital currency and the godfather of privacy.

BlockDown Conference was first launched in March of 2020 and is now preparing for its fifth event, this time fully dedicated to decentralized data, coming Dec. 3, from 2 pm to 10 pm CET (8:00 am to 4:00 pm UTC).

In this one-day eight-hour special conference, experts and academics from across the blockchain and crypto space will join to discuss data ownership, privacy, Web 3.0, personal information security and self-governance in detail through panels, keynotes, fireside chats, debates and much more.

BlockDown DeData aims to educate the public about the use and abuse of data in a world where everybody is a digital citizen. Nowadays, security breaches and manipulation of data can be powerful enough to put entire countries at risk, cripple large institutions, affect the way we see the world and even turn the results of government elections.

Erhan Korhaliller, CEO of leading Web 3.0 public relations agency EAK Digital and founder of BlockDown, said the event would educate, inspire and make people aware of the importance of data in this era.

DeData puts the power back into the hands of individuals. We look forward to welcoming guests to Blockdown so they can find out more about what decentralized data is and the many different advantages and current possibilities of taking control of your data. Your crypto is making yields, so why not your data?

BlockDown DeData will be streamed as usual across top media in the crypto space including CryptoSlate, Theta.tv, NewsBTC, CryptoNews, Bitcoinist and CriptoNoticias, making it available to millions of viewers easily through these sites home pages.

Previous editions of BlockDown have already attracted some of the biggest names in the industry including Akon, CZ, Charles Hoskinson, Erik Voorhees, Sergey Nazarov, Roger Ver and Nicholas Merten from DataDash, all providing glowing feedback.

BlockDown Presents: DeData takes place on Friday, Dec. 3. To find out more and to order tickets, visit https://blockdownconf.com or email contact@blockdownconf.com for further information.

This is a paid press release. Cointelegraph does not endorse and is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products, or other materials on this page. Readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company. Cointelegraph is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, or services mentioned in the press release.

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Edward Snowden set to discuss his use of Bitcoin in the NSA leaks at BlockDown Conference - Cointelegraph

ISLAMABAD: The presentation of national security policy in a parliamentary committee and ensuing meaningful discussion on the topic will remain a one-sided affair if it is confined to the ruling coalition only in the absence of the opposition parties.

Speaker Asad Qaiser heads the parliamentary committee on national security, which will hold an in-camera session on Monday. It was officially stated that the National Security Adviser Moeed W Yusuf will give the presentation.

All the opposition parties have jointly announced that they will boycott the forum in protest against what they described as the dictatorial attitude of the government. They accused the government of riding roughshod over the Constitution and making parliament a rubber stamp.

They said the briefing would merely provide the government another chance to put up a show that would have nothing to do with the critical issues facing the country and the people or providing solutions to those problems.

Reacting to this decision, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had urged the opposition parties to review their decision and show a responsible attitude as the government was facilitating them by giving them a briefing on national security issues.

There is a long list of invitees to the meeting. They include not only the top leaders of the opposition parties but also several of their MPs. Apart from the 29 notified members of the committee, many other lawmakers have also been invited to the meeting.

One list of special invitees consists of 22 legislators and six federal secretaries. Then there are 41 additional special invitees. Altogether, there will be more than a hundred participants in the session, which will lose its value due to the absence of the opposition MPs who would have given the other side of the story on national security had they attended. Primarily, such briefings are held for the opposition parties. The chief ministers of the four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have also been invited.

The opposition is apparently irked over the governments decision to send the unelected Moeed Yusuf to give the briefing. The opposition parties described Moeed Yusuf as merely a showpiece and said that neither the NSA had the relevant information nor the authority to take any decisions, and his briefing would not have anything to do with the real factors and future blueprints.

In the past, the parliamentary forum had been briefed by top military and intelligence officials more than once. Useful question-answer sessions had also followed. The opposition parties had attended all such events. There is no mention in the official notice issued bythe National Assembly Secretariat that Prime Minister Imran Khan would attend the briefing.

It is not clear why the committee has been convened while it had met less than a month back and what new developments have taken place necessitating the present session. The chiefs of the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had briefed it on national security, foreign affairs, internal and external challenges.

After the deliberations, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had stated that army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had responded to the queries raised during the briefing. Leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif had said the presentations by the chiefs of the army and ISI were very good and the meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere.

The oppositions boycott is not an isolated event but is the result of the perennial tension with the government lasting more than three years. Even a semblance of a working relationship has been missing on issues of national importance and interest. No side is willing to budge from its line. The two sides are also unwilling to break bread on the legislative agenda, further intensifying the confrontation.

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In oppositions absence: NSAs briefing to MPs panel to be one-sided, lacking critical queries - The News International

It was a salutary event when the National Security Adviser addressed the IPS probationers at the passing-out parade at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad on November 11. Ajit Doval made the following striking points: One, People cannot feel safe and secure if law enforcers are weak, corrupt and partisan. Two, the implementation of laws is more important than their legislation. Three, The quintessence of democracy does not lie in the ballot box. It lies in the laws made by the people who are elected through those ballot boxes, (which effectively means the party in power, the BJP). Four, wars are no longer an effective instrument for achieving political or military objectives. Then comes the knock-out punch: But it is the civil society that can be subverted, suborned, that can be divided to hurt the interest of a nation. And you (IPS probationers) are there to see that they are fully protected. The last bit in this pot-holed oration left some of us old-timers scratching their dandruffed scalps. The focus was not on those suborned TV channels spouting fake news, putting a slant on almost every national event. It was on those people in India who were hell-bent upon subverting the nation, Are there such people? Of course there are, some indoctrinated right-winger will say, pointing to, we all know whom.

The basic point the NSA made, namely that police must implement laws honestly and impartially, is unexceptionable. He did not nudge the door open for a larger debate. The state and its laws, its entire constitutional structure, was subverted from the top during Indira Gandhis Emergency. The judiciary, like a lamb, complied. Civil rights, now termed human rights, and civil society are interrelated. Civil society consists of individuals who have an opinion on matters affecting them, and they critique the state and government. Civil rights and civil society are the ballast, the foundation on which liberal philosophy stands. Civil disobedience is an example of concretising the dissenting assertion against the aggression of the state. It would be worth our while to remember Jeremy Bentham, the utilitarian philosopher, who opined that it was allowable to, if not incumbent on every manto enter into measures of resistancewhen the probable mischiefs of resistance, appear less to him than the probable mischiefs of obedience.

Is the police guilty, as seen in Hathras, of mischiefs of obedience?

With states becoming more aggressive and omnivorous, the need is to protect civil society from depredations of the state. The state, through its laws, has made many people stateless, one could call them non-persons. A majoritarian state can pass a slew of laws bearing on individual rights and liberty. Didnt Mrs Gandhi talk incessantly of a committed bureaucracy? The present dispensation wants a committed police. Uma Bharti, ex Union minister, and formerly Chief Minister Madhya Pradesh, stated recently that the bureaucracy was just fit to carry the slippers of politicos. However abhorrent the statement, it reflects a strain of thinking in the establishment. So we have a situation where the right-wing concentrates on the police, which faithfully carries out orders. We must take heed of the number of police encounters in UP.

Another statement by the NSA needs pondering over. The implementation of laws is more important than their legislation. What if laws themselves are bad? Three farm laws are being repealed. In fact, the NSAs admonitions are singularly ill-timed. And what if the implementation is too zealous? Have we forgotten the Emergency and the forced vasectomy of rickshaw pullers?

The offensive portions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been used against people like Kobad Ghandy and late Father Stan Swamy, who died in jail. This draconian law has no clause for anticipatory bail and the minimum punishment prescribed is five years. This is the aggressive state in action. There are also old laws like Section 124 A of the IPC that penalises sedition, something the police has made great use of. That was, of course, the colonial state in action. India ranks 142 out of 180 in the Global Law index due to the draconian and colonial laws that still exist, according to the former Justice of the Supreme court, Rohinton Nariman. India is close to the bottom of the list.

Before government functionaries enter debates on state power and individual liberty, one would recommend the study of the salutary judgment the Delhi High Court delivered on June 15 this year. On the bail plea of the Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and student leader Asif Iqbal Tanha, who had been in jail for 13 months, the court granted them bail and made certain stringent observations. In sum, it said that in a bid to stifle dissent, the state blurs the line between the constitutional right to protest and terrorism. Talking of the UAPA, the bench of eminent Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam stated the more stringent a penal provision, the more strictly it must be construed. But chargesheets are filed blithely. The justices also called attention to little evidence but alarming hyperbole verbiage against the wronged activists.

Civil society expects steadiness, not bonanzas from the state, which doles out five-year tenures for chiefs of CBI and Enforcement Directorate. Four days before superannuation, an officer is made DGP Delhi. The CBI office was subjected to a midnight raid, at the chosen hour when the CBI itself raids others. The Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha was moved out after two months to accommodate P C Mody, an IRS officer. This is almost anarchy.

And lastly, Doval could have emphasised wider reading by IPS probationers, before one day they, like their seniors, put a floundering foot into issues beyond their ken.

This column first appeared in the print edition on December 2, 2021 under the title Who should be policed. Daruwalla is a poet, writer and former chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee

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Why National Security Advisors advice to IPS probationers is worrying - The Indian Express

After narrowly avoiding a government shutdown by passing a stopgap funding bill on Friday, Congress faces what could be a packed schedule in the final weeks of the year.

Or it could end up doing not much of anything (*fingers crossed*).

The end-of-year scramble will kick off this week with an expected House vote on the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Though the military spending package usually sails through Congress with little more than token resistance, there are a few possible stumbling blocks popping up in the Senate, The Wall Street Journalreports.

Some Republican senators are reportedly threatening to withhold support for the package unless it includes a provision that would complicate Russia's completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea as a way to deter a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine. Another group, led by Sen. Marco Rubio (RFla.) wants to include language that would block American imports of goods produced in forced labor camps in China's Xinjiang region, where members of the Uyghur ethnic group are being systematically repressed.

After the NDAA starter course, we'll find out if the Democrat-controlled Congress has an appetite for finally passing President Joe Biden's $2 trillion (or $4 trillion, depending on how you count) social spending plan. Negotiations over the "Build Back Better" plan have been a dominant storyline in Washington nearly the whole year, but Democrats have been unable to cobble together the necessary votesin no small part because of defections from within their own ranks.

We'll also have to prepare for another showdown over the debt limit. A short-term deal struck in October to raise the debt limitwhich authorizes the Treasury to borrow funds to pay for already-approved spendingexpires on December 15.Politicoreports that some lawmakers are considering rolling the debt limit increase into the NDAA, but that might do little more than convince Republicans to vote against the measure. Then again, most Republicans are likely to vote against the debt limit increase no matter what form it takes.

And the fight over vaccine mandates could spill over into Congress as well. Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), a key swing vote, tells Politicothat he supports Sen. Mike Braun's (RInd.) attempt to use the Congressional Review Act to strike down the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private businesses. (The mandate is currently on hold per an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which is reviewing the case in more detail.)

Oh, and that stopgap funding bill passed on Friday to avert a government shutdown? It lasts for just 11 weeksso we'll be doingthat all over again in mid-February.

"I am not a traitor. I am not a spy. I am somebody who only acted out of love for what this country stands for," Reality Winner told 60 Minuteson Sunday night in her first televised interview since being released from prison.

Winner, a former National Security Administration (NSA) contractor who leaked documents to The Intercept about Russia's attempt to hack into voting systems during the 2016 presidential election, was given the longest prison sentence ever applied to a civilian under the Espionage Act. In a sometimes-tearful conversation with CBS's Scott Pelley, Winner defended her decision to smuggle documents out of the NSA facility in Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 2017a defense she did not get to offer in courtand about her physical and mental struggles during four years in prison.

Watch the whole interviewhere.

San Francisco will delay the implementation of a new Cannabis Business Tax in order to give legal pot shops a chance to compete with the black market.

The tax, applied at a rate of between 1 percent and 5 percent on gross sales (the rate rises as the volume of sales do), was supposed to go into effect in January. Instead, it will be suspended until the end of 2022. California's taxes on legal marijuana sales are already some of the highest in the country, and those taxes have made it difficult for legal sellers to supplant a robust (and untaxed) black market.

Reason's annual Webathon is ongoing! If you've enjoyed all the free content we've put out supporting free minds and free markets, please consider donating.

Bob Dole, the World War II vet, longtime senator from Kansas, and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, died Sunday at age 98.

"American public education is broken," writes Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City. He will donate $750 million to help expand charter schools in 20 big cities.

More evidence that the omicron variant could be more transmissible but less dangerous: It shares genetic traits with the common cold.

Amazon is bypassing some of the supply chain chaos by manufacturing its own containers and chartering cargo planes.

The "good old days" weren't actually all that goodbut they're still screwing with our politics.

Inflation is becoming a global problem.

Saturnino Orestes Armas "Minnie" Minoso Arrieta, who played major league baseball from 1946 until 1980 (yes, really) and was one of the sport's first Cuban stars, was finally elected to the hall of fame.

Nailed it:

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After Avoiding a Government Shutdown, What Will Congress Do With the Waning Days of 2021? - Reason

by Gemma Handy

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The countrys flourishing sailing industry now has 10 more newly qualified instructors set to hit the water and take the sector to new heights.

The latest batch of predominantly Antiguan and Barbudan graduates from the National Sailing Academy (NSA) once again tips the balance towards a new generation of locals at the helm of the industry.

Efforts in recent years to offer more local people a foothold in the lucrative field have seen a paradigm shift in its demographic makeup proving that sailing in the twin island nation is no longer the reserve of foreigners.

The 10 youngsters, aged 16 to 20, all joined the academy through its schools programme and have spent the last two years training to become dinghy instructors.

Last week they received their official certification from the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) after a final week and a half course with coaches flown in from the UK.

The NSA stages the course every two years to help fill jobs everywhere from resorts to excursion companies, says Chief Instructor Sylvester Thomas.

The qualification means a lot; it opens doors and is a really good foundation for the industry. Hotels are always looking for certified people. We have already employed a few at the academy and will try to get jobs for the others, he explains.

An internationally recognised qualification, the RYA Dinghy Instructor course aims to give young sailors the tools to inspire and teach the next generation. The students must first complete certifications in powerboats and first aid at Ondeck Antigua which sponsors the cost of those courses.

Since joining the NSA in 2012, Thomas has seen around 20 of his protgs rise through the ranks to instructor level.

Ive worked with many of them since they were 14, 15, and theyre still with us and now theyre teaching themselves, he says.

It feels really good to see their progress; its a blessing.

Key qualities to teach sailing include patience, people skills and problem solving, Thomas continues.

And while the industry now employs more local Antiguan and Barbudan people than ever before, theres still some way to go, he thinks.

We all depend on tourism, and sailing is a big part of what we do. In addition to the recreational aspect in the hotels, we have so many superyachts coming through here and so many other things going on within the industry.

I dont see any reason why one of our students cant be the one docking a cruise ship in Heritage Quay or bringing a megayacht into English Harbour. Our children should be the ones taking over the industry and it starts here, this is the foundation.

Learning to sail can open the gates for you, he says.

Thomas is living proof of that.

I used to be a baker, but since Ive been in sailing I have never been out of a job, he grins.

It is now 24 years since the then 22-year-old quit his position at a bakery in Cedar Grove after his request for a pay rise resulted in a gruff quip.

My boss told me to go outside, put some yeast in the flour and watch it rise as that was the only rise I was gonna get, he recalls.

On a whim, Thomas wandered down to a dinghy centre in Hodges Bay and asked for work.

I knew absolutely nothing about sailing. When they asked if I could sail, I said no but I could learn and here I am.

I didnt expect to still be sailing up to now but once I gravitated to the yachts and realised the benefits that came with it I didnt want to do anything else, he explains.

Id never even been on a plane until I started sailing and the opportunities just kept on coming. I got more and more qualifications which took me places. You never stop learning when it comes to sailing.

Thomas joined the NSA as he saw it as a chance to give back.

I love teaching, opening doors for others. Seeing them progress puts a smile on my face, he says.

Tajanica Thomas (no relation) joined the NSA as a third form student at the Irene B Williams Secondary School.

It was the sense of competition that appealed to me, she tells Observer. Its fun to be out on the water, especially when the wind is up.

Tajanica seized the chance to participate in the instructor programme and has already secured a full-time position teaching at the academy.

Now the 20-year-old plans to take her training to the next level and work towards her day skipper qualification, enabling her to navigate and captain a small yacht.

I think there are a lot more Antiguans that could get involved in sailing they just need the push, she says.

Not only is it fun but you can turn your hobby into a job. It will make you money and give you the opportunity to travel the world.

The National Sailing Academy was founded in 2010 and is largely funded by charitable donations. Visit http://www.nationalsailingacademy.org for more details.

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Instructor course puts more Antiguans and Barbudans at the helm of the sailing scene - Antigua Observer

New Delhi:The Allahabad high court has quashed the detention orders against six persons issued by the district administration of Mau in Uttar Pradesh after their alleged participation in a violent demonstration against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) on December 16, 2019.

The division bench of Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Sadhna Rani (Thakur) held that per the mandate of Section 10 of the National Security Act, the Government is required to send all relevant material within three weeks, but in the instant case it was sent to the Advisory Board on September 28, when the three week period had already passed.

In view of the delay, the court found the detention to be illegal. It observed in the order:

Having considered the mandate of Article 22(5) read with Section 10 of the National Security Act, we find in the facts of the instant case that the deadline for placing all papers, i.e., the ground of detention, the representation and the report of the detaining authority before the Advisory Board had not been adhered to by the State Government. The non-compliance of the mandatory provision of Section 10 of the NSA renders the detention orders illegal.

Petitioners move court against detention orders

The habeas corpus pleas had sought quashing of the detention orders issued by the district magistrate of Mau against the six petitioners. The petitioners had also sought quashing of the state governments order extending their detention period for a further period of three months.

It was submitted before the court that on December 16, 2019, a violent protest took place against the NRC and CAA laws following which an FIR (first information report) was registered in the matter against several persons, including the petitioners.

Also read:SC Bars UP Govt From Acting on Earlier Notices to Anti-CAA Protesters for Damages

The circle officer of Mau city had upon perusal of the report of the inspector in-charge of the police station, where the FIR was lodged, recommended forwarding the report to the higher authority. The report was then forwarded to the district magistrate of Mau by the superintendent of police with his recommendation for taking action under the NSA against the petitioners.

The district magistrate of Mau then considered the entire material and recorded his subjective satisfaction while passing the detention orders on September 3, 2020. He invoked the powers under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act while doing so. On the same day, the petitioners were served with the grounds of detention along with other relevant material.

Detention to restore law and order

According to the district magistrate of Mau, the petitioners were detained under the NSA in order to restore the peace and maintain law and order.

UP Police beat up anti-CAA protestors in Lucknow. Photo: PTI.

It was alleged that the accused were making efforts to get bail in the criminal cases lodged against them under the Gangster Act by moving bail applications in the Allahabad high court and therefore it was deemed necessary that they be detained.

The representation by the petitioners was made with the DM the following day, on September 14, 2020, and the para wise comments in respect of these were sent to the concerned authority on September 14, 2020. The detention order was then sent to the Advisory Board on September 28 in accordance with Section 10 of the NSA.

Timelines not complied with

The high court also rejected the argument of the Uttar Pradesh government that the report was submitted by the Advisory Board within the prescribed period of seven weeks from the date of detention of the petitioners and therefore Section 11(1) of the Act had been complied with in the present case.

To this argument, the court said: The maximum period prescribed under Section 11(1) to submit the report by the Advisory Board to the appropriate Government cannot be taken to condone the delay on the part of the State Government, in placing the matter before the Board which in turn had occurred on account of the delay caused at the ends of the District Magistrate, Mau/the detaining authority.

It added, The deadline for the action of every authority at every stage of the decision making process has been fixed under the Act in order to meet the constitutional obligation under Article 22(5) of the concerned authority/Government.

The court also held that the subjective satisfaction recorded by the district magistrate to arrive at the conclusion of detaining the petitioners was not based on any relevant material which would form an objective criterion to arrive at the decision.

Allahabad high court calls out abuse of NSA

Incidentally, the Allahabad high court on several occasions in the past called out the abuse of NSA in Uttar Pradesh.

An investigation by the Indian Express had in April this year revealed how between January 2018 and December 2020, the court had quashed 94 detentions in 120 habeas corpus petitions that challenged preventive detention under the NSA.

Also read:Allahabad HC Quashed All 20 Communal Incident NSA Orders Between 2018 and 2020: Report

The report had revealed that the high court had quashed orders of district magistrates in 32 districts while setting aside the detentions. In most of the cases, 41 out of 94, the NSA had been invoked for cow slaughter. Also, all the accused were found to be from the minority community in these cases.

It was also revealed by the report that in 30 cases, the high court had slammed the state administration and called for the immediate release of the detainees.

The court had in 11 detentions ruled that there was non-application of mind by the district magistrates while passing the order. In 13 cases, it found that the detained person was denied the opportunity to represent himself effectively while challenging the NSA, In seven cases, it said there was no need to invoke the NSA as the cases came under the ambit of law and order. And in the case of six other cases, it noted that the NSA was invoked on the basis of a solitary case despite the accused not having any criminal antecedents.

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'Illegal': Allahabad HC Quashes Detention of Six Held for Taking Part in CAA-NRC Protests - The Wire

The National Sheep Association (NSA) has expressed concern over the details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) released by Environment Minister George Eustice yesterday (Thursday, December 2).

According to the association, there are still unanswered questions.

Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive said:

There are still some questions and clarity sought, such as capital payment details still not being clear for some grasslands, beyond soil standards, which have been included in the SFI Pilot, also for fencing, hedge-planting, stonewalling, organic farms and even agroforestry and woodland.

Also, the statement made no actual mention of progress on the proposed retirement scheme, he added.

Stocker expressed concern that many farmers will not realise, or not like, the fact that the money is in return for doing specific things.

The SFI will reward farmers for actions they take to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way, beyond mandatory regulations.

Others will say what is being offered is not ambitious enough, he said.

In his opinion, the SFI should match what farmers were receiving through the Basic Payments Scheme (BPS) as part of the EUs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as it is the governments post-Brexit alternative.

We also have to realise that while the SFI offer is relatively small, the aim is for future scheme development to keep pace with the percentage reductions in BPS this isnt to say ELMS [Environmental Land Management] is a replacement for BPS, but it should be offering the opportunity for farmers to replace much of that income if they choose to.

Stocker acknowledged that getting this far however has been hard work.

It is worth considering the positive progress, he said.

We have a seven-year transition period and no cliff edge, which is exactly what most farmers wanted, we have the first tier of ELMS as a sustainable farming incentive a scheme for farming practices, and we have a scheme that gives the flexibility to enter at a field level, giving flexibility for the farmer to do what is right for them.

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NSA concerned over Sustainable Farming Incentive details - Agriland.co.uk

This is the second in a series of articles devoted to the 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival (November 1028). Part 1 was posted November 30.

This article will discuss four films about political issues.

Be My Voice (2021), directed by Nahid Persson, examines Iranian journalist and activist Masoumeh Masih Alinejad. Now living in New York, Alinejad is an outspoken opponent of the Iranian government: an Islamic theocracy that was established after the 1979 revolution. She has particularly objected to the requirement for Iranian women to wear the hijab, or veil, when in public. In 2014, she attracted attention by creating a Facebook page that encouraged Iranian women to post pictures of themselves without a hijab.

Born in rural Iran two years before the revolution that overthrew the United States puppet Shah Reza Pahlavi, Alinejad grew up in poverty. She became a parliamentary reporter who asked tough questions. Later, she was refused admittance to parliament because of her exposures.

By calling attention to harassment and physical attacks against women in Iran, Alinejad has gained many supporters. But she also has made enemies who send her anonymous threats. In addition, the Iranian government arrested her brother in an apparent attempt to intimidate her. After the arrest, Alinejads mother refused to speak to her.

Although the documentary portrays Alinejad as a feminist heroine, it also provides glimpses of the more complicated truth. We see, for example, that Alinejad hosts a show on Voice of America, a broadcaster of US government propaganda. She also appears on Fox News, the arch-reactionary spreader of misinformation. The film does not mention the fact that Alinejad once gained a meeting with, and the public approval of, the loathsome Mike Pompeo, secretary of state in the administration of President Donald Trump and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Alinejads opposition to the Iranian regime, which she calls a dictatorship, is doubtless sincere. But the film does not analyze the limitations of the individual acts of protest that she encourages. Nor does it explain why her emotional and moral appeals to world leaders are fruitless.

The films more serious shortcoming is its failure to acknowledge that, consciously or not, Alinejad has allowed herself to become a tool of US imperialism in its campaign to subjugate Iran through inhumane economic sanctions, assassinations and, if necessary, war. Whatever Alinejads intentions, her collaboration will only worsen the oppression of not only Iranian women, but also of the entire Iranian working class.

United States vs. Reality Winner (2021), directed by Sonia Kennebeck, tells how the titular National Security Agency (NSA) contractor was jailed for leaking a classified document that summarized findings about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The films exposure of the thuggish methods of the US government is valuable, but its examination of Winner and of the document she leaked is superficial. By resurrecting the allegations of Russian interference, the documentary provides a belated gift to the Democrats, who focused on this issue to effect a change in foreign policy and cover up President Trumps actual crimes.

Winner grew up in a liberal, middle-class family and joined the US Air Force in 2010 under the mistaken impression that it would allow her to help people. Instead, she ended up using her knowledge of Persian languages to assist in drone assassinations. Winner supported the 2016 presidential campaign of pseudo-socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, opposed Trump and expressed elementary criticisms of US imperialism.

After her discharge, Winner used her top-secret security clearance as a contractor translating documents for the NSA. In this position, she encountered the document that she leaked. The film rushes through its description of this document and presents it as conclusive evidence that the Russian government helped Trump win the election. We have commented previously about its true significance.

Winner sent the document anonymously to the Intercept, a left-leaning publication that solicits leaks . Remarkably, editor in chief Betsy Reed sent a copy to the NSA to confirm its authenticity: an act for which she shows little remorse. The agency quickly identified Winner as the leaker. Without reading Winner her Miranda rights, 11 FBI agents, most of them armed, interrogated her at her home under the pretext of having a friendly conversation.

The film effectively shows how the US government painted Winner as a security threat and railroaded her. Officials have never supported their claim that her actions caused significant harm. Winner ultimately pleaded guilty and received the maximum sentence of 63 months.

The film presents Winner as courageous for having exposed unsubstantiated claims that aided the Democrats against Trump. Would it not have been more courageous for her to refuse to cooperate in drone assassinations (which were overseen by Democratic President Barack Obama)?

F@ck This Job (2021), directed by Vera Krichevskaya, chronicles the first tumultuous years of Dozhd (Rain), the independent television station closely associated with Russias liberal opposition. Of Krichevskayas previous film, The Case of Sobchak, a documentary about the rise and fall of Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during the period of capitalist restoration, the WSWS wrote that In many respects it is a film by, about and for the Russian oligarchy. The present film continues along the same general lines.

In 2010, the wealthy Natalya Sindeyeva decided to start the station with the ostensible idea of telling uplifting stories and hosting interesting conversations. She nicknamed the station the optimistic channel. Although Sindeyeva had previous television experience, early Dozhd broadcasts were amateurish.

When one on-air personality prepared a satirical sketch about the relationship between President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Sindeyeva suppressed it. She was soon rewarded with a visit from Medvedev. Showing her lack of seriousness, Sindeyeva dressed casually and treated Medvedev more like a celebrity than a political leader.

Later, Dozhd began to cover protests, Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the performance-art agitation of Pussy Riot and the murder of Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of Putin. Dozhd was often the only station to cover these developments. But its political orientation was consistently right-wing. Dozhd aired a discussion about whether Leningrad should have been surrendered to the Nazis during World War II to save lives.

Furthermore, the station promoted and several times hosted Alexei Navalny, a far-right Russian chauvinist and critic of Putin. As the WSWS wrote, Navalny is not a democrat or a liberal, but a disgruntled entrepreneur and stockholder with distinct fascist leanings. On many levels, he represents the accumulated political filth that has burst to the surface in Russia after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. He is viewed as the perfect candidate to create an alliance between fascists and oligarchs, and sections of the upper-middle class, for a right-wing movement against Putin, which would be aimed at installing a pro-US puppet regime. This is the character of the stations independence.

In any case, the reactionary Russian government, for its own reasons, was hostile toward Dozhd, which, at different times, suffered the loss of advertisers, disconnection by television providers, the arrest of its journalists and police raids. Dozhd was forced to relocate its operations several timeseven moving on one occasion into the apartment of one of its employees.

These attacks took a toll on the station and created tensions between its employees. Nevertheless, the crew persevered. Having lost advertisers, Dozhd erected a paywall to generate revenue, and Sindeyeva showed determination to keep things running.

But eventually, Sindeyevas optimism gives way to pessimism. She loses her previous hope for political change and resigns herself to the indefinite continuation of Putins reign. Whatever the subjective intentions of Dozhds employees, such an opposition represents absolutely nothing progressive.

Director Emmett Adlers End of the Line (2021) traces the continuing degeneration of New York Citys subway system from 2016 to the beginning of this year. The website for the film calls it a a character-driven political drama, which gives an idea of its limitations as a documentary. Nonetheless, it graphically demonstrates the scandalous state of the subway in one of the worlds wealthiest cities.

New Yorks subway opened in 1904 and was not designed for its current high volume of ridership. Average weekday ridership was 5,493,875 in 2019, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which oversees the system. The maintenance and modernization of the subway have suffered deliberate, even unconscionable, neglect for decades. The signaling system, which directs traffic, dates from the Great Depression and has led to sharp increases in delayed trains. Compounding these problems was the significant damage that Hurricane Sandy caused to the subway system.

The worsening condition and performance of the subway became a political liability for Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has since been ousted over unproven sexual allegations. As riders anger grew, de Blasio and Cuomo publicly argued about who was responsible for the MTA.

In 2018, Cuomo hired Andy Byford, an internationally recognized public transportation expert, to modernize the subway. Byfords Fast Forward plan to update the system from top to bottom quickly earned him public popularity. But before long, Cuomo began to undermine and sideline Byford and the MTA. Ultimately, finding his responsibilities cut in half, Byford resigned in January 2020, his program uncompleted.

Days later, New Yorks first COVID-19 cases were detected. Subway ridership and revenues plummeted. At least 172 transit workers have died of COVID-19.

End of the Line provides a play-by-play of the subway crisis and focuses on the major figures involved but says nothing about larger developments in the city and the country. The bailout of Wall Street following the 2008 crash and the CARES Act of 2020 go unmentioned. The state, with the cooperation of Democrats such as de Blasio and Cuomo, repeatedly subjects the working class to austerity to rescue the financial and corporate oligarchy. Lacking a historical or class perspective, the film cannot propose any solution to the crisis that it documents.

To be continued

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Be My Voice, United States vs. Reality Winner, F@ck This Job and End of the Line: Four documentaries and portions of the truth - WSWS

State Initial Claims

On Friday, markets were disappointed by the meager +210K (seasonally adjusted (SA)) headline Payroll Report (The Establishment Survey).The consensus expectation was for more than +570K with the lowest survey participant at +375K.Remember that the BLS adds a lump of more than +100K to the actual survey results each month (the birth-death model).

Markets were even more frustrated because on Wednesday, ADP had reported that private employers added +534K in November, (ADPs report is based on their payroll business which processes paychecks for 20% of Americas private employers).

At the same time the Payroll Survey is taken (always the week of the month that includes the 12th), its sister survey also occurs The Household Survey.That survey showed job growth of +1.14 million SA (your read that right not a typo).That is a blockbuster number if there ever was one!And, because the much-watched U3 Unemployment Rate is calculated from the Household Survey, the U3 fell from 4.6% to 4.2%.

So, which survey is correct? How can there be such a divergence?

We have stated in this blog time and time again that one should not rely on SA data while the pandemic is still causing havoc in the U.S. and world economies.We believe that seasonal adjustment factors can cause the resulting data to be misleading when the data is influenced by events that are unique.

November is normally a period when hiring occurs in the Retail Trade sector.In all the Friday instant analysis that we read, Retail Trade was blamed for the disappointing employment data, showing up as -20.4K (SA).In actuality, retail hired +331.6K thats the Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) number, and, yes, once again, you read that correctly.

The reality is that on an NSA basis, both surveys actually produced very strong results.And those results were corroborative (see table), in that the NSA Payroll and Household numbers are very close.

Payroll and Household Survey

As usual, markets shot first.Based upon the disappointing +210K headline number, markets quickly concluded that the Fed wouldnt be raising interest rates as early in 2022 as previously thought, and Treasury yields, especially on the longer end of the curve, nosedived.The 10-Year yield fell 10 basis points (0.10 percentage points) on Friday alone and is now down 32 basis points over the last two weeks.

As an aside, it appears that you can use Powells public statements as a contrary indicator.For several months markets have been pressuring him to turn hawkish.Now that he has finally conceded (wont use the term transitory anymore), it appears that markets have concluded that his initial position was most likely correct, and while the Feds Chair has now turned somewhat hawkish, markets have now turned dovish.(Will Powell pivot yet again?)

We have kept a weekly scorecard of the Continuing Unemployment Claims by state since May 15 when states began to opt-out of paying the extra $300/week of supplemental unemployment benefits funded by the federal government.While we have read elsewhere that there were no notable differences between the opt-in and opt-out states, our data clearly shows that, not only were there differences, but they appear to be significant.Between May 15 (the base data week) and September 25 (the federal programs officially ended the first week of September), in aggregate, the opt-out states had reduced their unemployment levels by -50.5%, more than double the -24.2% of the opt-in states.At the time the federal supplements ended, our view was that the opt-in state data would begin to play catch-up.And, indeed, that is what seems to be happening.As of November 20, the opt-in states are now at -50.9% (i.e., their unemployment is -50.9% lower than it was on May 15), accomplishing in two months what it had taken four months to accomplish when federal supplement were available.

Scorecard: Opt-ins vs Opt-outs

Since the federal supplements ended, the opt-in states have shown a much faster pace of re-employment than the opt-out states.The conclusion appears inescapable: the federal unemployment supplements were a disincentive to re-employment!

Also in past blogs, we have commented on the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), the percentage of the working age population either with a job or looking for one.Specifically, we noted that the LFPR in Canada was nearing its pre-pandemic level while it was still holding near its pandemic lows in the U.S.Again, we opined that we suspected the federal supplemental programs had played a role.And we were disappointed when Octobers LFPR did not show any improvement.

Novembers data, however, did show a positive move as the LFPR ticked up to 61.8% from 61.6% in both October and September.Even better was the progress in the most impacted demographic groups.For females aged 25-34, those most likely to have young children, the LFPR rose by 0.9 pct. points from 76.3% in October to 77.2% in November perhaps some thawing in the child-care situation and certainly impacted by a return to in-person schooling.For 20-24 year-olds, those most likely to work in lower paying service jobs, the LFPR rose to 72.1% from 71.3%; and for those considered unskilled, to 55.7% from 55.0%.We believe we will see such a positive trend for the next several months.

Last week we commented that the 199K Initial Unemployment Claims (ICs) that the markets got hyped up about was a false start once again caused by the seasonal adjustment process.We noted that while the SA data fell, the NSA series actually showed an increase (see chart at the top, second bar from the right had side). This past weeks data release (for the Thanksgiving week - November 27) showed the decrease in the NSA data expected in a holiday week.And, no surprise, the SA ICs rose.

(Joshua Barone contributed to this blog.)

More here:
Disappointing Employment Data: A Look Beneath The Hood - Forbes