Justin Raimondo: A Covert Affair: Petraeus Caught in the Honeypot? - So who would have an interest in getting rid of Petraeus? Here’s where the Cantor connection comes in. The tip by an anonymous “FBI employee” that wound up in Cantor’s office two weeks ago came through Rep. David Reichert, Republican of Washington state, who has a friend who knows the whistleblower. Cantor then spoke to the whistleblower directly, who put him in touch with FBI Director Mueller. Cantor is a great friend of Israel, and Petraeus — not so much. When Cantor pledged to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he and his fellow Republicans “will serve as a check on the administration” in regard to the President’s policy toward Israel, he was clearly aligning himself with a foreign leader against American interests as perceived by the White House. But would he really go this far — deliberately taking down a key figure, one beloved by Republicans, in order to keep his promise to Netanyahu?

CIA Director David Petraeus revealed his affair almost immediately after the election, even though the FBI may have discovered it months ago. The timing has caused Congress to wonder if it was a political cover-up to help Obama’s campaign. - The FBI began a criminal investigation in February after discovering that Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ 40-year-old mistress and biographer, had accessed the former four-star general’s email account. FBI officials also found harassing emails sent by Broadwell to another woman close to Petraeus. These emails, including one that referred to “sex under a desk,” sparked the FBI investigation that ultimately ended the general’s career in public service. But although the affair was uncovered months ago, Petraeus and government officials familiar with the matter kept quiet.

Daily Beast: Petraeus Mistress Suggested She Was Privy to State Secrets - Video
The Telegraph: Jill Kelley Says She and General Are 'Friends'
Jason Ditz: Jill Kelley Revealed as the Other Other Woman in Scandal
InformationFarm: Jill Kelley
Engineering Evil: Anonymous Hackers Israel may have hacked Former CIA Director David Petraeus
NY Daily News: Petraeus Scandal Grows: Broadwell, sent menacing e-mails to mystery woman she feared threatened affair
Reuters: Second woman identified in Petraeus' downfall
PressTV: New details emerge on Petraeus affair
Stephen Lendman: Petraeus: Resignation or Sacking?
Xymphora: The Benghazi affair
AWIP: CIA Chief Petraeus resigns "due to extramarital affair"
Washington's Blog: Why Did CIA Director Petraeus Suddenly Resign … And Why Was the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Murdered?

One of Microsoft’s latest patent applications proposes to turn the Kinect camera into a snitch for movie studios, reporting back just how many friends you’ve got in your living room and what they’re watching. Think that sounds alarmist? Here’s what it actually says: “The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.” It’s that blatant – a system to spy on private viewing habits.

What’s interesting about this application and patent applications in general [is that] they often reveal what companies would do if they could get away with it. The black and white drawings and blandly technical language can cover immoral, scary and downright evil ideas. There was an even more striking example from Apple earlier this year. In September, it was granted a patent for “Apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device”, i.e. a system allowing companies or governments to remotely disable mobile phones and tablets in a particular area. While Apple mentions benign examples such as preventing phone calls from disturbing concerts or ensuring devices are switched off on planes, it also states: “Covert police or government operations may require complete "blackout" conditions.” That’s exactly the kind of feature certain governments would love to use to suppress pictures and videos. The patent Apple put its stamp on is a handy form of censorship regardless of whether it will ever apply it.

Last year, Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt, said that the company would hold off from creating a facial recognition service because it would be “crossing the creepy line”. Still, Google has filed for and been granted extensive patents in the area.

Kent man arrested after picture of burning poppy posted on internet - Police say that the man from Aylesham had been arrested on suspicion of 'malicious telecommunications'. - Padraig Reidy, of Index on Censorship, which campaigns on freedom of expression issues, said: "News of this arrest is very worrying. Index hopes that when the CPS issues its guidelines on free speech later this month, due regard will be given to free speech online." According to the website of the CPS, the Malicious Communications Act 1988, section 1, "deals with the sending to another of any article which is indecent or grossly offensive, or which conveys a threat, or which is false, provided there is an intent to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient". The CPS website states: "The offence covers letters, writing of all descriptions, electronic communications, photographs and other images in a material form, tape recordings, films and video recordings."

A newly uncovered clandestine computer network, known as the ‘One System,’ can reportedly share children’s personal details across different UK agencies, including age, sex, address and their school behavior records – all without parents ever knowing. - One of Britain’s biggest government contractors has created a database containing the personal details of 8 million children, the Sunday Times revealed. The database was created by Capita – a company specializing in IT systems – and includes information on a child’s sex, age, exam results, if they have special needs, bad behavior like absenteeism and how many minutes late they are to lessons. This information can then be shared with numerous agencies, including the police, the NHS and child protection units and charities, all without parental consent. Teachers collect data on all children, not just ones deemed to be at risk. This includes recording how many minutes late they are for class. The One System is already employed by about 100 local authorities, and was created two years after Contact Point – a similar database which was set up by the then-Labour government, but scrapped by the current coalition because of security concerns. Documents obtained by the Sunday Times revealed that classroom information is gathered by teachers and submitted to the One System up to six times a day to provide a “golden thread of data” that can be accessed by anyone working with children.

(Credit: Reuters / Jason Szep)

State media have largely absolved authorities of any role in the October unrest, depicting it mostly as spontaneous eruptions of violence that often ended with Muslims burning their own homes. But a Reuters investigation paints a more troubling picture: The wave of attacks was organized, central-government military sources told Reuters. They were led by Rakhine nationalists tied to a powerful political party in the state, incited by Buddhist monks, and, some witnesses said, abetted at times by local security forces.

A leader in the regional party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, denied it had a role in organizing the assaults but conceded the possible involvement of grass-roots supporters. "When the mob rises with very hot ethnic nationalism, it is very difficult to stop them," Oo Hla Saw told Reuters in an interview. Two townships - Pauktaw and Kyaukphyu - saw the near-total expulsion of long-established Muslim populations, in what could amount to ethnic cleansing. One village saw a massacre of dozens of Muslims, among them 21 women. Interviews with government officials, military and police, political leaders and dozens of Buddhists and Muslims across a vast conflict zone suggest Myanmar is entering a more violent phase of persecution of its 800,000 mostly stateless Rohingya, a Muslim minority in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano says Iran’s nuclear energy facilities are used for peaceful purposes. - In an interview with the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Sunday, Amano confirmed that a large number of nuclear energy facilities in Iran are under IAEA supervision and are used for peaceful purposes. The UN nuclear chief noted that many high-level IAEA missions have visited Iran’s nuclear energy facilities so far and the agency’s reports do not say that Iran has nuclear weapons. The IAEA will hold a new round of talks with Iran on the country’s nuclear energy program on December 13, 2012.

A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of his home in Rafah
in southern Gaza. -An Israeli airstrike destroyed his home.

Israeli warplanes have carried out several airstrikes over the Gaza Strip amid the Tel Aviv regime’s escalation of aggression against the besieged Palestinian territory.

The attacks targeted several spots in northern Gaza during the early hours of Monday. There were no immediate reports on possible casualties. Six Palestinians have been killed and scores more injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since November 10. Some of the wounded are in critical condition. On Sunday, Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak warned that Tel Aviv was ready to launch further air and ground attacks against Palestinians. The Israeli military frequently carries out airstrikes and other attacks on Gaza, claiming they are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured. Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

PressTV: Israel threatens to escalate attacks against Palestinians in Gaza
AWIP: What is Wrong with These People?

Israel has fired warning shots into Syria after mortars launched from Syrian territory hit an Israeli base in the Golan Heights. It is the first time Israel has fired into Syrian territory since the 1973 war. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said the missile was fired as a warning shot after an errant mortar fired from Syria hit the military post. Just hours before the strike, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Syria that Israel would respond if "stray shells" landed inside the Golan Heights.

PressTV: Israel issues military threat to Syria