■ A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.
■ The latest revelations will add to the intense public and congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs. They come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court oversight.
■ The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10. "I, sitting at my desk [could] wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email".
■ US officials vehemently denied this specific claim. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said of Snowden's assertion: "He's lying. It's impossible for him to do what he was saying he could do." But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed.

Open Letter from Members of the European Parliament to President Barack Obama and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ■ As Members of the European Parliament, who were elected to represent our constituents throughout Europe, we are writing to express our concerns about the ongoing persecution of Bradley Manning, the young U.S. soldier who released classified information revealing evidence of human rights abuses and apparent war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. ■ The U.S. Army has charged Private First Class Manning with 21 different crimes, including ‘Aiding the Enemy’; a capital charge. To convict a person who leaked information to the media of “Aiding the Enemy” would set a terrible precedent. Although we understand the US government is not seeking the death penalty for Bradley Manning, there would be nothing to stop this from happening in future cases. As it is, PFC Manning faces the possibility of life in prison without parole, recently rejected as “inhuman and degrading treatment” by the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia Today: 130+ yrs behind bars? Manning sentencing starts
Reuters: WikiLeaks' Assange condemns Manning verdict, Obama
Scott Horton's: Daniel Ellsberg on the Manning Verdict
Stephen Lendman: Bradley Manning: Guilty of Doing the Right Thing
Barry Grey: The conviction of Bradley Manning: A travesty of justice
Salon.com: Manning verdict: What you need to know
The Guardian: Bradley Manning trial: what we know from the leaked WikiLeaks documents
XRepublic: Glenn Greenwald Schools Government Prestitutes AGAIN! - Video
Russia Today: Manning not guilty of aiding enemy, faces 100+ yrs in jail on other charges - Video

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden would be better off staying in Russia, because he won’t get a fair trial in the US, believes his father Lon Snowden. He may soon travel to Moscow to meet his son. ● Lon Snowden backs Edward’s decision to seek political asylum in Russia, he told Rossiya 24 news channel on Wednesday. The live interview taken in the US was most likely viewed by the NSA whistleblower from his temporary refuge at a Moscow airport transit zone, as he was warned beforehand by his legal representative in Russia Anatoly Kucherena. If Edward returned to the US for prosecution, he would not be granted the constitutional right of due process, the elder Snowden fears. “The fact is no assurances have been made that he will be given a fair trial, that he deserves, or any citizen of this nation is given by our Constitution,” he said. Edward Snowden’s case has taken on all the characteristics of a witch hunt, argues Lon Snowden’s attorney, Bruce Fein, who was interviewed by the channel along with his client. A number of Obama administration officials and lawmakers openly branded the former NSA contractor a traitor although he has yet to be tried on espionage charges.

Voice of Russia: Snowden’s dad plans Russia trip to meet with son

Nos garçons (braves soldats de l’armée arabe syrienne) ont eu le cannibale! - Ainsi va la vie d’un chien. Ils finissent tous de la même manière ces "résistants" de Fabius. Abou Sakkar a enfin été tué. C’est l’Elysée qui pleure. Souvenez-vous, ce clown avait éviscéré un soldat syrien, avant de manger son coeur et ses poumons devant les caméras de ses complices et le monde entier via Youtube. Il accusait ce soldat d’avoir violé une femme et qu’il avait horreur de ça. Pire, il avait donné une interview en direct sur la BBC, après son acte "héroïque". Un vrai honneur perdu de la chaîne britannique…La Syrie est entrain d’être nettoyée et, le monde entier doit remercier le président Bachar al-Assad et la vaillante armée arabe syrienne. L’armée arabe syrienne avait juré de venger son soldat. C’est fait.

As Syria’s Assad Advances, Zionist Supremacists Seek to Prolong War and Bloodshed ● The capture of most of the “rebel” stronghold city of Homs yesterday by Syrian government forces has brought president Bashar al-Assad one step closer to victory in the conflict—but the Zionist Supremacists who run the US government have already started supplying his enemies with weapons in a deliberate attempt to prolong the bloodshed and kill even more people. Even though the “rebels” are now largely driven by mysterious extremists drawn from all over the world, the Zionist-controlled US government has started shipping arms to them, a report in the Guardian newspaper has revealed. (DavidDuke.com)

PressTV: West's war crimes in Syria exposed
Christof Lehmann: Khan al-Assal Massacre to Cover-up Chemical Weapons Use by Jabhat al-Nusrah

The Bank of England refuses to explain what appears to be a huge discrepancy in its accounting of the gold it holds in custody, a difference of as much as 1,200 tonnes between the total reported in the bank's annual report in February and the total reported in a "virtual tour" of the bank posted this month at the bank's Internet site. The discrepancy was noted by GoldMoney research director Alasdair Macleod last week during an interview with Max Keiser on the "Keiser Report" program on the Russia Today television network.

■ Scientists from the MARUM Institute at the University of Bremen, the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, and the ETH Zurich have published a study that find earthquakes are releasing massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere to significantly alter the temperature of the planet and change the dynamics of eco-systems across the globe.
■ David Fischer, professor at MARUM, stated: “We started going through the literature and found that a major earthquake had occurred close by, in 1945.
■ Based on several indicators, we postulated that the earthquake led to a fracturing of the sediments, releasing the gas that had been trapped below the hydrates into the ocean.” Earthquakes cause measurable tears in the ocean floor, allowing methane to seep out. By analyzing an 8.1 magnitude earthquake from 1945, researchers concluded that the Nascent Ridge, a shallow reservoir of methane, was opened after the quake.
■ Based on several indicators, we postulated that the earthquake led to a fracturing of the sediments, releasing the gas that had been trapped below the hydrates into the ocean.” Earthquakes cause measurable tears in the ocean floor, allowing methane to seep out. Fischer explained: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculates the planet’s carbon budget by estimating all possible natural sources of carbon to the atmosphere, and we now provide a new mechanism of carbon export that had not been considered before.”

Patrick Slattery: [The] Jewish lock on what is probably the most powerful economic post in the world is not to be questioned. ● Walking past a newsstand the other day, I noticed the an article on the front page of the New York Times entitled “In Tug of War Over New Fed Leader, Some Gender Undertones.” Below the headline were photos of current Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen and former Treasury Secretary Laurence Summers. It struck me as interesting that the New York Times would ignore the fact that the two candidates for Fed Chairman are both Jews and instead frame this story around gender. Just as Elena Kagan was criticized for extending “white privilege” to the mainly Jewish professors she hired while Dean of Harvard Law School, the next Fed Chairman is likely to be described as having received “patriarchal privilege” or having benefited from a “gender driven” process. Either way, the issue of the Jewish lock on job is camouflaged. Of course, this is exactly what one would expect from the Jewish-owned New York Times and its Jewish [owners].

Dan Hind ● Prism is worrying because of its degree of interference in civil society. As Chris Bertram points out, the state and its partners could all too easily use the records of internet use to embarrass troublesome individuals. The state could thereby raise the costs of dissent, and widen its definition, until the "ordinary, decent, hard-working, law-abiding" citizens so beloved of politicians will know to keep their mouth shut about the linked phenomena of steepening inequality, intensifying conflict, environmental crisis and grand corruption. It is this "potential disabling of insubordination" rather than "concerns about "privacy" in and of itself" that should worry us, argues Bertram. ● The News of the World was able to run rampant through British civil society using only very primitive technology. Imagine what the corporate media might do in partnership with an all-knowing state. We already know that the UK military worries about the middle class becoming a revolutionary threat to the established order. At what point does political activism become subversion? At the moment the national security state is more or less free to decide for itself. The "law-abiding" majority that Hague insists have nothing to fear always have something to fear.

It’s no secret that the U.S. government has been domestically stockpiling unimaginable amounts of ammunition and weapons. So much ammunition, in fact, that it surpasses even what the military uses on a yearly basis in the mid east theaters of war. ● All of these arms and ammunition are being transported within the borders of the United States by third-party truck drivers contracted by the Department of Homeland Security, and some of these drivers are reportedly foreign born originating from countries like Russia and Poland. ● In a recent radio interview on World News with Dave Vose, a caller relays a shocking story from a FEMA insider that is apparently well known within the FEMA/DHS transportation community, and it has some U.S. drivers spooked. ● According to the report, truckers have been hauling large volumes of weapons-related supplies, some of which have been carried by Russian and Polish drivers, to destinations like military bases and DHS supply depots all over the country. But about 30% of the loads operated by Russian and Polish drivers have vanished en route to their destinations, and the drivers are never heard from again. ● It’s a story that has appeared nowhere in the mainstream media, and will likely never be validated by the Department of Homeland Security. ● But given reports of foreign troops on the ground in the United States, treaties signed by President Obama authorizing the deployment of Russian security experts on American soil, and recent revelations that the U.S. Army is stockpiling foreign made ammunition and supplies, one can’t help but consider there may be a connection.

A series of US airstrikes have claimed the lives of more than 80 people and severely injured several others in different regions of war-ravaged Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, local security sources say. - According to Afghan security officials, one of the airstrikes took place on Tuesday in the central-eastern Logar Province where ten people were killed. The other rocked the northeastern province of Kunar, killing six people, all Pakistani nationals. Local and US military officials have confirmed both attacks, saying all victims were Taliban militants. Also on Monday, at least 65 people lost their lives in a series of US airstrikes in Paktia Province. US military confirmed separate air raids in three villages, saying those killed were militants. The Taliban militants have not yet commented on the attacks. [...] The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity remains high in the country.

Six activists from the anti-surveillance group Restore the Fourth paid an unexpected visit to the office of a New York Congressman in protest of the vote which allowed the National Security Agency to continue collecting Americans' phone records without a warrant. - The action is intended to call out Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and the more than 200 other members of Congress that voted down an amendment last week aimed at curtailing the NSA's collection of domestic calling records. The group said they wouldn't leave until Meeks apologizes for his "no" vote and commits to fighting against surveillance programs which collect data on Americans without a warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing.

Brokered by US Secretary of State, Israeli and Palestinian officials hold “productive” talks over “peace” on Monday. - War criminal Tzipi Livni and traitor Saib Erakat sat down side-by-side opposite US Crook John Kerry to share a meal just after sunset. "It was a constructive and productive meeting between the parties. They engaged in good faith [sic] and with seriousness of purpose [sic]," a senior State Department official said in a statement, after the dinner lasting about 90 minutes. "We are looking forward to continuing the talks tomorrow morning." In Thomas Jefferson room at the State Department, Kerry had welcomed the two teams to the flower-bedecked table for a dinner of grilled Atlantic grouper and apricot upside down cake, hailing the moment as "very, very special."

Stuart Littlewood: Letter to John Kerry – dishonest “peace” broker - Remember what Miko Peled, the Israeli general’s son, said: “The name of the game [is] erasing Palestine, getting rid of the people and de-Arabizing the country…” - Nice game, huh?

Jean Shaoul: Israeli-Palestinian talks a cover for US aggression in Middle East
Stephen Lendman: The Illusion of Israeli/Palestinian Peace for Our Time

A Russian immigration official has hinted that US spy agency whistleblower Edward Snowden may be assassinated if decides to travel freely once admitted to the country as a political refugee. - "I don't think it is good for Snowden to travel freely in Russia, as he is a wanted man,” said Vladimir Volokh, press secretary of Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS), quoted in a Monday report by Moscow-based RT. Volokh is further cited in the report as cautioning Snowden against leaving the Moscow airport at all, calling it a “bad idea,” and emphasizing that Russia cannot guarantee the personal security of the leaker of NSA’s global electronic spying programs beyond the airport’s gates. The stark warnings come nearly a week after Snowden, who is actively sought by the US government as a fugitive leaker of national secrets, submitted an asylum application to Russia as Washington has annulled his passport and has reportedly put out a global warrant for his arrest.

James Comey, the former Deputy US Attorney General under President [sic] George W. Bush, has sailed through a confirmation vote in the US Senate to become the next head of the FBI. Comey, 52, will replace Robert Mueller, who has been the head of the bureau since just before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Though a Republican, Comey was able to garner bipartisan support during his brief period as acting attorney general, for refusing to sanction a Bush-era government surveillance initiative in 2004, which may partly account for Monday’s 93-1 Senate vote.

A military judge is to issue a verdict in the case of US army whistleblower Bradley Manning at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday. Manning faces life in prison with no chance of parole if convicted of aiding the enemy after he leaked classified documents to WikiLeaks.

Jason Ditz: Bradley Manning Verdict Expected Tuesday at 1 PM - Manning is facing 21 charges related to leaking information about war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and could face life in prison for the single charge of “aiding the enemy.” Judge Lind has been overwhelmingly compliant with the prosecution, even allowing them to change the charges late last week, after all the testimony had already been given, to better fit the case that had been made. She has also spurned defense complaints about inappropriate actions by the prosecution and allegations of bias. That’s bad news for Manning, who has admitted to the lesser charges of releasing the information but insists it was because of a belief that the American public ought to know.

Common Dreams: Manning 'Guilty' on Most Counts, Faces 100 Years in Prison - Video

Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded an end to the bloodshed unleashed in Syria by what it [correctly] describes as 'international terrorists' backed by the US and its regional Arab allies and Turkey. - Pointing to “atrocious killing” of nearly 150 people in an attack over the weekend on the northern town of Khan Assal by radical militants from Jabhat al-Nusra and Ansar al-Khilafah groups, Moscow urged “all responsible sides” to end the carnage, RIA Novosti reported late Tuesday citing a Foreign ministry statement posted on its website on Monday. “The barbarous nature of the crime has come as a shock to all Syrians: It has been condemned not only by the country’s authorities but also by leading opposition groups,” said the statement in part. The two al-Qaeda-linked, foreign-backed militant groups have claimed responsibility for taking control over the town, near the city of Aleppo, earlier in July in a joint attack that has reportedly killed 100 soldiers, the report says.

AWIP: Militants execute 51 civilians in Syria
ProPublica: Syria’s Jihadi Migration Emerges as Top Terror Threat in Europe, Beyond
Al-Manar TV: Syrian Army Regains Full Control of Khaldiyeh in Homs

Ken O'Keefe, a former US Marine, told Press TV on Saturday that Russia would not remain indifferent to a potential military attack against Syria.

The totalitarian tip-toe is tap dancing to tyranny with the proposed Internet censorship bill in the United Kingdom. In the name of keeping children safe from porn, the UK law will impose Internet filters on far more than just porn. Anything outside the acceptable mainstream narrative will be filtered. In short, the free flow of information is under assault with this law.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced a consultation paper on proposals for a new testing regime for five- and eleven-year-olds in England. ● The new consultation detailed by the Liberal Democrat leader follows the announcement this June of the new curriculum to be implemented from September 2014. The tests are designed to ensure that the rote learning, memorisation of spelling lists and times tables by heart and emphasis on “facts and rules” approach to teaching is enshrined from the moment a child starts primary school. ● Early years and preschool teachers are told that their sole role is to make young children “school ready”, while primary teachers have the task of ensuring that 11-year-olds are “secondary school ready”. ● Behind these empty, meaningless and deeply uninspiring phrases lay plans to rip the heart out of childhood teaching. All positive and progressive approaches to teaching based on producing well-rounded children who are able to respond critically to the world around them, develop problem-solving skills, independence and emotional well-being—already severely undermined over the past two decades—are to be ruled out.

John Pilger: How we are impoverished, gentrified and silenced - and what to do about it

John Robles: ■ [Are] we supposed to forget the last several decades of world history? Are we supposed to forget Manning who has been tortured, are we to forget Abu-Ghraib, Guantanamo and even ex Vice President Richard Cheney signing off on such torture techniques as “puncturing an eye” and “slicing a testicle”? Are we to forget case after case after case and report after report of other instances of torture, extra-judicial executions and even innocent men and women being executed when there was evidence that exonerated them? ■ Please don’t insult the intelligence of the world and the Russian Government by engaging in such ridiculous letter writing Mr. Holder. We all know that once Mr. Snowden is in your hands, and I pray for him that never happens, he will be interrogated using your “enhanced interrogation techniques” until he goes insane or kills himself and if he does survive he will be locked in solitary confinement under special observation until the day he dies, that is of course if he is not executed, as nothing will stop you from executing him once he is in your hands. ■ The United States has become a rogue illegal nation and the continued persecution of Mr. Edward Snowden, a young man who exposed that rogue nation’s illegality against the world and its own citizens and more importantly Mr. Holder, against the very Constitution you are sworn to uphold, prove beyond all doubt that Mr. Snowden is in very grave and imminent danger. [H/T: xymphora]

United States of Hypocrisy ■ I expected Obama to be a terrible president, but I thought he’d be less outrageous on civil liberties than he is, and I thought his administration might turn down the hypocrisy a notch. Not only has the US charged Edward Snowden, like Bradley Manning, with offences not resembling what they actually did, in both cases to cover up embarrassing and illegal activities by government personnel high to low. But in the case of Robert Seldon Lady we have an American convicted in an Italian court of kidnapping. Unlike the situation with Russia, we have an extradition treaty with Italy, and we generally take their legal system to be legitimate. Yet when Italy demands the extradition of Lady, and he is temporarily detained by Panama, the US government exerts tremendous pressure to get him released before he can face the legal version of the extraordinary renditions he was involved in. So Lady has been convicted of an actual and obvious crime by a legitimate court in a country we have an extradition treaty with, but we refuse to extradite him. In the very same week we demand that Russia hand over Snowden who hasn’t been convicted, hasn’t obviously damaged anything but reputations, and we don’t have an extradition treaty with Russia. Everyone else in the world sees this and understands the meaning. Only Americans who watch American television miss it. [H/T: xymphora]

AG Holder promises Russia not to torture Snowden - A Shameful Day to Be a US Citizen ■ So it has come to this: That the United States has to promise (to Russia!) that it will not torture a prisoner in its control -- a US citizen at that -- and so therefore that person, Edward Snowden, has no basis for claiming that he should be “treated as a refugee or granted asylum.” Why does Holder have to make these pathetic representations to his counterpart in Russia? Because Snowden has applied for asylum saying that he is at risk of torture or execution if returned to the US to face charges for leaking documents showing that the US government is massively violating the civil liberties and privacy of every American by monitoring every American’s electronic communications. [...] This country’s “justice” system has become so perverted and politically tainted that the rest of the world, including Russia, knows that Snowden is telling the truth when he says he cannot hope to receive a fair trial here. Indeed, Congress has passed laws, and the President has signed laws, giving this government the power to lock someone like Snowden up indefinitely without trial, to torture him, and even to kill him, not through a jury decision on capital punishment, but simply on the basis of a secret “finding” by the President that he has aided or abetted terrorism.

Snowden Case Reveals Obama's Personal Arrogance ■ What does it say about a country when it has to assure another country that it will not torture a fugitive should he be returned? [Who] will believe anything Holder promises? Wasn't it the U.S. which redefined torture into "enhanced interrogation"? Is that the plan for Snowden? Wasn't it the Obama administration and Holden who refused to prosecute anyone but the victims over torture? Isn't the Obama administration accused by the UN special rapporteur on torture of cruel, inhuman and degrading treating of a prisoner in a case similar to Snowden's? By writing that Holden letter the U.S. has publicly humiliated itself. It is a total embarrassment. Putin has made it clear from the very beginning that any extradition of Snowden is not going to happen. Fullstop. [...] It seems that this an Obama personality issue. He personally asked Putin to extradite Snowden even after Putin had publicly (thereby leaving zero chance to later change that decision) said he would not. Now Obama is miffed. How can HE get rebuked by country like Russia?

At least 65 have been killed in overnight airstrikes carried out by US forces in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia, Press TV reports. ■ The casualties came after a series of airstrikes happened in an area of Paktia Province on Sunday night. The US military has confirmed separate air raids in three villages, saying those killed were militants. While Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The Taliban have not yet commented on the deadly incident. ■ Just two days ago, at least 60 people were killed and several others severely injured in similar airstrikes. American forces have increased their air attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks. ■ The raids are a source of friction between Kabul and Washington as they often result in civilian deaths. The Afghan government has on numerous occasions warned Washington to stop attacks on innocent civilians. ■ Many civilians have lost their lives in US-led strikes and operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past decade, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged at the seemingly endless number of the deadly assaults.

Amitai Etzioni : Who Authorized Preparations for War with China? - The Pentagon has concluded that the time has come to prepare for war with China, and in a manner well beyond crafting the sort of contingency plans that are expected for wide a range of possible confrontations. It is a momentous conclusion that will shape the United States’ defense systems, force posture, and overall strategy for dealing with the economically and militarily resurgent China. Thus far, however, the military’s assessment of and preparations for the threat posed by China have not received the high level of review from elected civilian officials that such developments require. The start of a second Obama administration provides an opportunity for civilian authorities to live up to their obligations in this matter and to conduct a proper review of the United States’ China strategy and the military’s role in it.

Paul Craig Roberts: The Two Faux Democracies Threaten Life On Earth - For the past 68 years, most military aggression can be sourced to the US and Israel. Yet, these two originators of wars pretend to be the victims of aggression. Amitai Etzioni has raised an important question: “Who authorized preparations for war with China?” Etzioni says that the war plan is not the sort of contingency plan that might be on hand for an improbable event. Etzioni also reports that the Pentagon’s war plan was not ordered by, and has not been reviewed by, US civilian authorities. We are confronted with a neoconized US military out of control endangering Americans and the rest of the world.

● John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General who prosecuted the war on terror under the administration of George W. Bush, appeared at Aspen as a board member of Academi. Responding to a question about U.S. over-reliance on the “kinetic” approach of drone strikes and special forces, Ashcroft reminded the audience that the U.S. also likes to torture terror suspects, not just “exterminate” them.
● “It's not true that we have relied solely on the kinetic option,” Ashcroft insisted. “We wouldn't have so many detainees if we'd relied on the ability to exterminate people…We've had a blended and nuanced approach and for the guy who's on the other end of a Hellfire missile he doesn't see that as a nuance.”
● Hearty laughs erupted from the crowd and fellow panelists. With a broad smile on her face, moderator Catherine Herridge of Fox News joked to Ashcroft, “You have a way with words.”
● But Ashcroft was not done. He proceeded to boast about the pain inflicted on detainees during long CIA torture sessions: “And maybe there are people who wish they were on the end of one of those missiles.”
● Competing with Ashcroft for the High Authoritarian prize was former NSA chief Michael Hayden, who emphasized the importance of Obama’s drone assassinations, at least in countries the U.S. has deemed to be Al Qaeda havens. “Here's the strategic question,” Hayden said. “People in Pakistan? I think that's very clear. Kill 'em. People in Yemen? The same. Kill 'em.”

■ Despite consumer confidence at a six-year high, the latest AP survey of the real America shows a stunning four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, are near poverty, or rely on welfare for at least parts of their lives amid signs of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among whites about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987.
■ "Poverty is no longer an issue of 'them', it's an issue of 'us'," as 'the invisible poor' - lower income whites - are generally dispersed in suburbs (Appalachia, the industrial Midwest, and across America's heartland, from Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma up through the Great Plains) where more than 60% of the poor are white.
■ More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four - accounting for more than 41% of the nation's destitute - nearly double the number of poor blacks and as one survey respondent noted "I think it's going to get worse."

Andre Damon: Four in five Americans economically insecure - The figures are based on statistics compiled by Washington University professor Mark Rank, to be published next year by Oxford University Press. The report notes that, based on the current growth rate of poverty, 85 percent of all working-age adults will experience economic insecurity at some point in their lives by 2030. The survey defines the “economically insecure” as those who have had an income below 150 percent of the poverty line, were unemployed, or relied on antipoverty programs such as food stamps for up to a year or more. By that definition, 79 percent of the US population qualifies as “economically insecure,” including 90 percent of nonwhites. The report notes, however, a significant rise in poverty among the white population, with 76 percent classified as economically insecure.