The following rush transcript probably contains errors and/or omissions…
Feds and Weed – NSA Black Budget
Rex and actualities tell the story of weed’s sudden emergence from decades of prohibition. Despite the good news for pot-heads, Rex warns that the sudden development may be an indication that the U.S. government wishes to subdue the population with marijuana so it can continue its rampage of illegal across the globe, and with its self-destructive surveillance of the American people.
The Big Brother Awards were handed out to the two biggest privacy violators in Amsterdam, and although the winners were close to home, the NSA did get an honorable mention.
The NSA’s Black Budget is out, uncovering the vast profits being handed to telecommunications firms in return for illegal collection and transmission of customer data to the NSA.
From Democracy Now!
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden have revealed the CIA has mushroomed into the largest U.S. spy agency with a nearly $15 billion budget as it expands intelligence, cybersabotage and overseas covert operations. On Thursday, The Washington Post published details about the so-called black budget of the nation’s 16 spy agencies. Altogether the spy agencies requested nearly $53 billion last year. More than half the money was split between the CIA, the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. The documents also reveal the NSA is paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to U.S. telephone and Internet companies for clandestine access to their communications networks. In addition, the black budget revealed that the United States has carried out counterintelligence operations against the governments of Israel and Pakistan, as well as Iran, Russia, China and Cuba.