Obama General Discussion, vol. 5

[IWasBored]

The government needs to get out of the way while creating jobs. Well, no wonder the Obama administration is failing in your eyes, you're expecting one guy (in a system that is not built around the sole word of that one guy) to be responsible for fixing things while keeping out of it at the same time.

And 5 months is 21 weeks, which is still pretty much a zero percent chance of survivability base on your own copy and paste chart. And you can absolutely throw out that small sliver of viability completely if they're born outside of a medical facility. I've never subscribed to the belief that life begins at conception, but I find it very hard to imagine someone believing that after they looked a translucent 21 week old fetus in the eye (figuratively of course, because they can't open their eyes at that point) and still think that's a person.

[Pearl]

Many don't seem to realize that it is not just the economy to blame for job woes. The whole market has changed. It's no longer what you're capable of, it is how innovative you can be to advance a company. Finding a job no longer requires to simply submit a resume, it requires networking and using social media like LinkedIn and even Twitter in some cases. Technology has changed the way to do business and if you don't have working knowledge of some of them, you'll be passed over. Many are unaware of this, based on what I've seen at job hunting seminars. Maybe the economy led to these changes, but technology certainly played a role.

[INDY500]

41% of college grads overqualified for what they do - Apr. 30, 2013

41% of college grads overqualified for what they do

By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney May 1, 2013

A survey out Tuesday found that 41% of college graduates from the last two years are stuck in jobs that don't require a degree.

Consulting firm Accenture talked to 1,005 students who graduated from college in 2011 and 2012 and haven't returned to graduate school. In addition to those who are underemployed, 11% said they are unemployed, with 7% reporting they haven't had a job since graduating.

The lack of job options in their chosen fields are weighing grads down, as nearly half of the recent graduates believe they would fare better in the job market if they'd pursued a different major.

Now if you really want to know who has the low unemployment rates:
Table A-14. Unemployed persons by industry and class of worker, not seasonally adjusted

Government workers:
April 2012 - 3.7%
April 2013 - 3.3%

[HBK-79]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

You realize that the unemployment rate for people with a BA is 3.7%.

I have two BS degrees (one in chemistry and the other one in chemical engineering) and one graduate degree (in medical technology). A few years ago, I was fired by an unfair, vicious micro-manager. To this day, I still can't find another job- despite sending over 200 applications, using LinkedIn, working with recruiters, and reconnecting with former co-workers.

But recently, one of my classmates in grad school (who just happens to be a cute, 23-year-old Polish girl) landed a permanent, full-time job as a blood banker at a clinical laboratory. This girl lacks quite a bit of experience to cross-match blood. But the laboratory consists of all woman, and they chose to hire her over me because she is "more likeable".

IDK, but hiring practices these days are just so fucked up.

[Pearl]

Originally Posted by HBK-79

I have two BS degrees (one in chemistry and the other one in chemical engineering) and one graduate degree (in medical technology). A few years ago, I was fired by an unfair, vicious micro-manager. To this day, I still can't find another job- despite sending over 200 applications, using LinkedIn, working with recruiters, and reconnecting with former co-workers.

But recently, one of my classmates in grad school (who just happens to be a cute, 23-year-old Polish girl) landed a permanent, full-time job as a blood banker at a clinical laboratory. This girl lacks quite a bit of experience to cross-match blood. But the laboratory consists of all woman, and they chose to hire her over me because she is "more likeable".

IDK, but hiring practices these days are just so fucked up.

I agree, and I said what I said earlier to explain the job market and hiring process these days.

It is all fucked up and there's so much bull going around. What I really hate is when you go for an interview or even a second interview - and no one has the courtesy to send you an email to let you know they won't be hiring you. Not even a mass email to all they interviewed. How rude and inconsiderate. Is it really that hard to have an assistant or intern to type up a quick email?

As for turning to others for help, I'm also pissed. Either former co-workers or classmates don't respond, or they bullshit me. Is it really that hard to be honest? They can't say, sorry I don't know anyone who is hiring right now? But no, they say, oh yes I may know someone, I'll let you know.

Sorry for the rant. I have an MA in journalism but I've been working as a receptionist at a law firm for a year. I'm freelancing on the side, but I'm worried about my future. I'm not paid a decent salary, and my job has no growth. I'm doing all I can to get another job with better pay, growth and where my skills fit, but nothing. I'm so upset. Anyway, sorry for the rant.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by INDY500

41% of college grads overqualified for what they do - Apr. 30, 2013

Wow, a "study" of 1000 people by Accenture?

That's a really great link you just Googled.

Now if you really want to know who has the low unemployment rates:
Table A-14. Unemployed persons by industry and class of worker, not seasonally adjusted

And ...?

[Pearl]

Beyond education, the nation has also been less aggressive than some others in using counseling and retraining to help the jobless find work. To take one small example, a recent study in France by the renowned M.I.T. economist Esther Duflo and four colleagues found that placement programs for unemployed workers helped not only the workers but the economy too. The counseled workers were more likely to find work, and they did not simply take jobs from other candidates. Overall employment rose more quickly in the regions with job counseling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/su...cans.html?_r=0

[MrsSpringsteen]

Huffington Post

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the Obama administration's media investigations on two fronts on Tuesday.

The CPJ board sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole protesting the Justice Department's secret probe into the Associated Press. The board--whose members include Christiane Amanpour, Lara Logan, Tom Brokaw, Victor Navasky, Michael Massing and the Huffington Post Media Group's editor-in-chief, Arianna Huffington--said that it was doing something rare:

Our board of directors rarely has seen the need to raise its collective voice against U.S. government actions that threaten newsgathering. Today, however, we do see that need: We write you to vigorously protest the secret seizing of phone records of The Associated Press. The overly broad scope of the secret subpoena and the lack of notification to the AP by the Justice Department represent a damaging setback for press freedom in the United States.

The CPJ added that the Justice Department had "set a terrible example for the rest of the world, where governments routinely justify intervention in the media by citing national security." The letter also demanded, as the AP has, that any materials obtained in the DOJ probe be returned immediately to the AP.

In a separate release, the CPJ said it was "alarmed" at the Justice Department's secret investigation into Fox News reporter James Rosen.

"U.S. government efforts to prosecute leakers by obtaining information from journalists has a chilling effect domestically and sends a terrible message to journalists around the world who are fighting to resist government intrusion," CPJ head Joel Simon said in a statement.

[BonosSaint]

Although I voted for Obama last time around and would have no problem with a legitimate, court-ordered (with an overview process) with something other than a fishing expedition purpose, much of the overreach of this administration in regard to citizen surveillance and the press (ie the AP) is more than troubling to me.

I hated it with Bush. I hate it with Obama. While you can make a case that these are security issues, you can make an equal case that it allows the administration information it can use in ways much less defensible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/us...s.html?hp&_r=0

[deep]

Actress arrested in ricin letters sent to Obama, Bloomberg

[IWasBored]

Is that cat woman or bat(wo)man? It makes a difference in whether she is to be considered batshit or catshit crazy.

[mama cass]

sorry if this has already been discussed somewhere, but have any of you been reading reports of this Prism surveillance programme in the US??

Facebook and Google insist they did not know of Prism surveillance program | World news | guardian.co.uk

Facebook and Google insist they did not know of Prism surveillance program
Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg sharply deny knowledge of Prism until Thursday even as Obama confirms program's existence

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 June 2013 00.14 BST

Mark Zuckerberg called the press reports about the existence of Prism 'outrageous'. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

America's tech giants continued to deny any knowledge of a giant government surveillance programme called Prism, even as president Barack Obama confirmed the scheme's existence Friday.

With their credibility about privacy issues in sharp focus, all the technology companies said to be involved in the program issued remarkably similar statements.

All said they did not allow the government "direct access" to their systems, all said they had never heard of the Prism program, and all called for greater transparency.

In a blogpost titled 'What the…?' Google co-founder Larry Page and chief legal officer David Drummond said the "level of secrecy" around US surveillance procedures was undermining "freedoms we all cherish."

"First, we have not joined any program that would give the US government – or any other government – direct access to our servers. Indeed, the US government does not have direct access or a 'back door' to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called Prism until yesterday," they wrote.

"Second, we provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law. Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don't follow the correct process."

The Google executives said they were also "very surprised" to learn of the government order made to obtain data from Verizon, first disclosed by the Guardian. "Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users' internet activity on such a scale is completely false," they wrote.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, described the press reports about Prism as "outrageous". He insisted that the Facebook was not part of any program to give the US government direct access to its servers.

He said: "Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of Prism before yesterday."

Zuckerberg also called for greater transparency. "We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term."

Yahoo said: "We do not provide the government with direct access to our servers, systems, or network."

The leaked National Security Agency (NSA) document obtained by the Guardian claims Prism operates with the "assistance of communications providers in the US".

The document names AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, PalTalk and Yahoo and gives dates when they "joined" the scheme, aimed at intercepting data from people outside the US.'' The presentation talks of "legally compelled collection" of data.

All the companies involved have now denied knowledge of the scheme to the Guardian.

In one slide, the presentation identifies two types of data collection: Upstream and Prism. Upstream involves the collection of communications on "fibre cables and infrastructure as data flows past." Prism involves: "Collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple."

Obama confirmed the existence of the scheme Friday and said Congress was "fully apprised" of the situation and that it was being conducted legally with a "whole range of safeguards involved".

But despite Obama's acknowledgment, senior figures said they remained puzzled and surprised by the news. Speaking off the record one said their company regularly complied with subpoenas for information but had never allowed "collection directly" from their servers.

Some speculated that the wording of the document was incorrect or that the author had over-hyped the scheme.

Security experts and civil liberty figures were less convinced. "I was assuming that these tech companies were just lying," said security guru Bruce Schneier. "That's the most obvious explanation."

"Could it possibly be that there's a department within these companies that hides this from the executives? Maybe," he said. "I don't know, we don't know. This points to the problem here. There's so much freaking secrecy that we don't know enough to even know what is going on."

He said he was not surprised by the news. "There are no surprises here. We all knew what was going on and now they have finally admitted it."

"The NSA would not have done this surreptitiously, they want the tech companies on their side," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "I can't make sense of their statements at all."

He said it was clear that tech companies in general were more than happy to co-operate with the US authorities and said he was puzzled why there seemed to be such a gap between the two sides' story.

Ali Reza Manouchehri, CEO and co-founder of MetroStar Systems, an IT consultant that works closely with government agencies, said: "There are situations that come up where they have to communicate with the security agencies. At the end of the day they are working in the interest of national security."

"I can't comment on what's going on inside the company. It's hard for me to believe that Google doesn't know," he said. "It is either transparent or it is surreptitious. It is hard for me to believe that at this level, at this volume it is surreptitious." He said if the companies really did not know then "we have some serious issues."

The news has sparked widespread concern in the US. Nearly 20,000 people have signed a petition at Progressive Change Campaign Committee calling on Congress to hold investigations.

[hiphop]

mama cass, I guess there are many interested readers on this topic, but everyone´s afraid to comment. Obama´s interpretation of free speech.

The NSA leaks are not surprising, rumors have been around since 5 years when they found the NSA room right at a Tier-1, methinks it was the AT&T building.

The leaks confirmed Big Brother. 1984 sales are on an all time high.

Of course, the UK, Canada, the Aussies and a couple of other countries work together with the NSA.

When I called the U.S. Embassy to ask where President Obama takes the legal right to spy on foreign citizens, they promised me to call back but did not. I wouldn´t have expected them to call back.

It is interesting to note that European citizens apparently have no chance to sue, because what is criminal in Europe, is allowed in the U.S. with a secret court and secret laws.

What a surprise that many European agencies apparently do cooperate with the NSA and have been continuing the cooperation after the Cold War ended.

European politicians (of the nation states and of the EU) are not interested in protecting the basic fundamental rights of their citizens. If they were, they would pull out of SWIFT, stop handing over flight data, stop the US-EU talks on a free trade agreement.

European politicians are unable to protect European businesses. They prefer to lick the feet of Big Brother. They have the same plans anyway: there´s not only PRISM and Boundless Informant, but also programs like INDECT were planned.

They love to spy on their citizens. To protect the richest 1%.

Everybody with one cell in his brain knows that the reasons quoted for running that kind of programs, ie. preventing terror attacks, are bogus and utter nonsense. Terrorists don´t use Skype or facebook or unecrypted emails to discuss about their plans. It is clear and evident that the mass surveillance targets the majority of innocent civilians.

Government wants control and breaches the constitution, not only in the U.S.

95% of U.S. mainstream media are owned by 6 corporations (start of the 80s it was around 50 large corporations). That´s why media tries to downplay the leaks and to discredit the whistleblower.

Unfortunately, the Washington Post is not what it once was when Woodward and Bernstein reported on the Nixon administration and Watergate. If you ask me, the NSAs spy programs pose a major threat to the free civilized world. But hey, they´re legal.

If I was a country who´s not on the U.S. friends list, like China, I would qualify the continued secret spying as an act of war. Interesting to see how the U.S. media lobbied against Chinese spying just before the leaks blew up. The Obama administration likes to create tension.

In the light of the recent events, and to contribute to the topic "Obama General Discussion" here´s an excellent article by the (traditionally leftist, as you all know) Guardian on Barack "Snoop" Obama:

I have watched Barack Obama transform into the security president | World news | The Observer

I really wonder what campaigners who did support Obama to be elected think of their President now. Are you still around, Obama/Joe Biden fans?

African Americans who hailed him as the one to bring freedom, to end war, to close Guantanamo etc. must be disappointed, all their hopes were ridiculed. The President loves toys like the drones he´s sending around the world to kill (many innocent) people. The NSA leaks are the icing on the cake.

Impressive result for the first African American President.

[Irvine511]

What does being black have to do with Obama's presidential powers and choices in regards to national security issues?

I'm sure we can all agree on the troubling aspects of the NSA, the come city of using drones, but why are you disappointed in him because he's black?

[hiphop]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

why are you disappointed in him because he's black?

I´m not, I knew who financed his campaign. But a lot of his African American voters must be disappointed; many expected an African American to be a better President than Bush.

Here´s an update:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/ju...ns-g20-summits

"There have often been rumours of this kind of espionage at international conferences, but it is highly unusual for hard evidence to confirm it and spell out the detail. The evidence is contained in documents – classified as top secret – which were uncovered by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by the Guardian. They reveal that during G20 meetings in April and September 2009 GCHQ used what one document calls "ground-breaking intelligence capabilities" to intercept the communications of visiting delegations.

This included:

• Setting up internet cafes where they used an email interception programme and key-logging software to spy on delegates' use of computers;

• Penetrating the security on delegates' BlackBerrys to monitor their email messages and phone calls;

• Supplying 45 analysts with a live round-the-clock summary of who was phoning who at the summit;

• Targeting the Turkish finance minister and possibly 15 others in his party;

• Receiving reports from an NSA attempt to eavesdrop on the Russian leader, Dmitry Medvedev, as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow.

The documents suggest that the operation was sanctioned in principle at a senior level in the government of the then prime minister, Gordon Brown, and that intelligence, including briefings for visiting delegates, was passed to British ministers."

[mama cass]

^that isn't anything to do with Obama, that's GCHQ in Britain...

[mama cass]

espionage is more common than we think - years back i was working at a "sensitive" international trade fair, and the conference room was swept every morning by security for bugs - blew my mind at the time lol

[Popmartijn]

Originally Posted by hiphop

"The evidence is contained in documents – classified as top secret – which were uncovered by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by the Guardian. They reveal that during G20 meetings in April and September 2009 GCHQ used what one document calls "ground-breaking intelligence capabilities" to intercept the communications of visiting delegations.

Originally Posted by mama cass

^that isn't anything to do with Obama, that's GCHQ in Britain...

I have to say that with actions like these (also including his revelations about hacking attempts in Chinese computers) Snowden is becoming less a 'whistleblower' but more an ordinary 'traitor' endangering the security of a country. It's one thing to reveal that your own country is spying on its own citizens, but something else to reveal the actions to other countries. To me, this doesn't serve any 'higher motive' anymore (like informing your own countrymen about what's happening to them), but more an intention to damage countries (and their international relationships) just because you have the information.

[hiphop]

Originally Posted by Popmartijn

I have to say that with actions like these (also including his revelations about hacking attempts in Chinese computers) Snowden is becoming less a 'whistleblower' but more an ordinary 'traitor' endangering the security of a country. It's one thing to reveal that your own country is spying on its own citizens, but something else to reveal the actions to other countries. To me, this doesn't serve any 'higher motive' anymore (like informing your own countrymen about what's happening to them), but more an intention to damage countries (and their international relationships) just because you have the information.

When Prism and Boundless Informant were leaked, Obama, Alexander et al implied that the surveillance systems were only - or mainly - used for targeting terrorists, legally authorized by a secret court.

This revelation is proof that the U.S. President and the Head of the NSA lied again and informs us how deeply tied the secret services of U.S. and U.K. are.

Wait a minute, you are saying that Snowden has the intention to damage international relations? Was it Snowden who set up spy internet cafes and hacking Blackberrys at G20 meetings or the GHCQ with the NSA? Did Snowden accuse China of heavy spying before Prism was leaked, or did the Obama administration accuse China?

The secret services and the current U.S. administration are damaging international relations, Popmartijn, not the guy who exposed them snooping.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by hiphop

I´m not, I knew who financed his campaign. But a lot of his African American voters must be disappointed; many expected an African American to be a better President than Bush.

firstly, by virtually all measures, Obama is a much, much better president than Bush. my boxwood shrubs would have been a better president than Bush.

but i'm curious as to why you think race has anything to do with this, and why black people -- as opposed to, dunno, Jewish lesbians -- would be more disappointed with the Obama continuation of Bush era NSA policies.