Major US internet corporation Yahoo has announced that American law enforcement agencies had made between 12,000 and 13,000 demands for user data over past six months, in the latest case of tech firms admitting to their involvement in the massive US electronic spying bid. In an effort to restore confidence in its users after revelations of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) PRISM electronic surveillance program, Yahoo revealed the extent of its dealings with the US spy agency, RT reported Tuesday. [...] Former NSA contract employee Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who exposed two NSA data-collection programs, has insisted that the agency had unfettered, real-time access to the content on the servers of Google, Facebook Microsoft, Yahoo and five other major tech corporations. The companies have denied the claims, stating the so-called FISA 'gag order' tied their hands when it came to providing greater transparency regarding government requests for customer information.

Anthony Gucciardi : Is it treason for NSA leaker Edward Snowden to expose criminal, unconstitutional activity within the government, or is it treason for Obama to allow and advocate the same criminal activity that violates the Constitution he swore to uphold? - As traitors against the Constitution and reality like Senator Dianne Feinstein denounce Edward Snowden’s recent NSA leak as treason, it’s important to remember that Snowden was actually acting within the oath that he swore to uphold when joining the United States military. Specifically, Snowden is blowing the whistle on blatant intrusions that completely dismiss the Fourth Amendment as a whole. Because remember, it may be ‘legal’ under federal law to record every single online chat and phone call thanks to the Patriot Act/FISA, but it’s not legal under the Constitution.

Eric London: Congress, intelligence officials, join in attacking NSA whistleblower Snowden - Alexander and company are given center stage not to “let the public know the true facts,” but rather to peddle a series of lies in an attempt to quell widespread opposition to the international programs of government surveillance.

Jim Quinn: WHO ARE THE REAL TRAITORS? - There are weeks that change the course of human history. There are weeks when people must choose sides. There are weeks that expose the real American traitors. There is no middle ground in this debate. You are either on the side of freedom, liberty, truth, transparency and the U.S. Constitution or you are on the side of mindless obedience, oppression, deception, corruption and tyranny. A courageous young Millennial named Edward Snowden has risked his life and his future to expose the illegal, surreptitious surveillance programs being conducted by the United States government in clear violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The NSA, with the full knowledge of Barack Obama and Congress, has been covertly collecting phone and internet records on millions of Americans with the full cooperation of Verizon and other mega media/data corporations. Our owners have been using the U.S. Constitution to wipe their asses. The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is so unambiguous that any intelligent politician, bright journalist or fifth grader in Miss Sabatini’s history class could interpret its meaning and intention. Our founding fathers believed in truth, clarity and simplicity. The traitorous sociopaths in control of our government today believe in obfuscation, ambiguity and complexity.

Dam Press: The British intelligence site stated that Putin threatened to send other secret Russian made weapons to Syria which would tip the balance of power even further in favour of Syria and re-iterated that these weapons will not be used against Israel on condition that Israel will not participate in the war within Syria and neighbouring countries. [Lebanon, Jordan] Reportedly, the British PM’s response was very weak in relation to Putin’s threats. Putin’s response came just over 24 hours after Obama’s statement on Saturday that he was going to arm the Syrian resistance. Putin clearly stated that the Middle East is going to witness a significant change. Syria will be armed with weapons that have never been seen before [in the Middle East] including computer guided smart missiles that never miss their target. He also added that Russia will supply Syria with Skean 5 ground -to-sea missiles that are capable of hitting and sinking any target up to 250 km off the Syrian coast.

Stephen Lendman: Obama's hands are bloodrenched. He bears full responsibility for ravaging Syria. It's been ongoing since early 2011. It was planned many years earlier. On Monday, Obama lied saying: "We're not taking sides in a religious war. Really, what we're trying to do is take sides against extremists of all sorts and in favor of people who are in favor of moderation, tolerance, representative government, and over the long-term, stability and prosperity for the people of Syria." "We share an interest in reducing the violence, securing chemical weapons and ensuring that they are neither used nor are they subject to proliferation." "We want to try to resolve the issue through political means if possible, so we will instruct our teams to continue to work on the potential of a Geneva follow-up." Since conflict began, America's been arming, training, funding and directing death squad fighters in Syria. They're imported from dozens of regional and other countries.

Fars News Agency: Mossad Recruiting Algerian Youths for Fighting Syrians - Israel's spy agency, Mossad, is recruiting Algerian young men to send them to Syria to help the other foreign-backed terrorists in the fight against the Syrian people and government, an Algerian newspaper revealed on Wednesday. Informed sources who asked to remain anonymous told the Algerian daily al-Fajr that the activities of Salafi groups in the country are under the supervision of Mossad and these groups coax the Algerian young men into getting involved in what they call as "Jihad in Syria" and includes killing civilians and increasing insecurity in the country.

Chris Marsden: Cameron spent the entire two days seeking to put maximum pressure on Putin to sign up to the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the precondition for a negotiated settlement of the country’s bloody civil war. This would be rejected by the Syrian regime and lead it to boycott a proposed summit in Geneva, which could then be used as the pretext for a full-scale military intervention. The resolution, it was hoped, would also include denunciations of the use of chemical weapons, including the unproven assertion that Syrian forces had done so. The Obama administration has employed the “big lie” technique, citing Syria’s alleged use of such weapons to claim that Assad has crossed a “red line,” justifying Washington’s decision to begin openly supplying arms to the Syrian opposition.

PressTV: John Kerry called for 'immediate' airstrikes on Syria
PressTV: G8 makes no breakthrough on Syria
Stephen Lendman: Putin Alone at G8

The US is to open direct talks with Taliban leaders within days, it was revealed on Tuesday, after Washington agreed to drop a series of preconditions that have previously held back negotiations over the future of Afghanistan. - In a major milestone in the 12-year-old war, political representatives of the Taliban will shortly meet Afghan and US officials in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to discuss an agenda for what US officials called "peace and reconciliation" before further talks take place with Afghan government representatives soon after. The move came on the day that Nato forces handed official control of nationwide security to Afghan troops. Less than 12 hours later the US confirmed that four US personnel died at Bagram air base near Kabul, in what was thought to be a mortar attack. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The results are in: virtually no one trusts the scripted mainstream media. We’ve known it for years, but a new Gallup poll shows that a whopping 77% of Americans distrust mainstream media television. - Only a bit more ‘trustworthy’ than Congress, which scored in at a record low of 90% saying they do not trust the government body, the Gallup poll details that only 23% of viewers actually trust the mainstream media television news. A reality that has been clear as day in light of blatant mainstream media blackouts on key events like the outrageous DHS ‘Fourth Amendment free‘ zones that stretch up to 100 miles out from every single border of the US, to the blackout over eyewitness reports at the Boston Marathon. (Anthony Gucciardi interviews Lew Rockwell)

Americans hate terrorists and love our kids, right? So you might be shocked to know that preschoolers with guns have taken more lives so far this year than the single U.S. terrorist attack, which claimed four lives in Boston. This is admittedly tongue-in-cheek, but one has to wonder if the NSA's PRISM program would have saved more lives had it been monitoring toddlers - or gun owners - rather than suspected terrorists. 11 Deaths in Five Months Where Shooter Was 3 to 6 Years Old: Listed below are the 11 gun fatalities I found where a preschooler pulled the trigger (from Jan. 1 to June 9, 2013). Starting with a list of five toddler shooting deaths The Jewish Daily Forward published in early May, I unearthed six additional cases. This tragic, unthinkable event has happened every month, like clock-work.