Life's treadmill is wearing me out.

Lately, the focus has been the task at hand. I have not really kept up with the news.

This evening's music features The Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas.

Good Morning, everybody, how did you start your day this morning? I am so tired of talking politics, I don't have anything for you in that regard. So, I just tell you some personal stuff, something of course one shouldn't do. But I have given up on any kind of privacy, so I don't care anymore.

This evening's music features blues and r&b saxophone player Noble "Thin Man" Watts.

Good morning 99percenters!
Gulfgal98 is traveling today and is unavailable so I'm covering for her.

NSA Converting Our Spoken Words Into Searchable Text
Yes … They’re Collecting the Content of AMERICANS’ Phone Calls, Too

Dan Froomkin reports today at the Intercept:

Most people don’t realize that the words they speak are not so private anymore, either.

Top-secret documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency can now automatically recognize the content within phone calls by creating rough transcripts and phonetic representations that can be easily searched and stored.

The documents show NSA analysts celebrating the development of what they called “Google for Voice” nearly a decade ago.

The Snowden documents describe extensive use of keyword searching as well as computer programs designed to analyze and “extract” the content of voice conversations, and even use sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations of interest.

***

By leveraging advances in automated speech recognition, the NSA has entered the era of bulk listening.

And this has happened with no apparent public oversight, hearings or legislative action. Congress hasn’t shown signs of even knowing that it’s going on.

Our great vacation at the end of 1958 took us to Miami. It was my first airplane flight! We left New York in the cold of winter and landed in some kind of sunny paradise...which lasted for about a day. We had a beautiful day in Miami and 6 days and nights of rain.

Here's where we stayed. It's no longer in existence but man, it was cool!

This evening's music features Texas blues singer Lou Ann Barton.

Good morning 99percenters!

“It’s pure authoritarianism”: Glenn Greenwald exposes the link between Baltimore’s uprising and the NSA
Award-winning journalist tells Salon why the erosion of civil liberties at home and abroad is interconnected

It got lost in all the hubbub of the uprising in Baltimore, as well as the addition of a few more candidates to the 2016 presidential election, but according to reports from multiple sources last week, it’s looking more probable than ever that the so-called Patriot Act will not be reauthorized until after it’s undergone some privacy-protecting revisions. The distance between vague promises in a report and an actual change to the bill’s infamously broad language is considerable, of course. But absent the waves of outrage inspired by leaks from former CIA contractor Edward Snowden — whose collaboration with Salon alum and Intercept founding editor Glenn Greenwald recently led to an Academy Award — it’s hard to imagine reformers ever getting even this close.

Recently, Salon spoke over the phone with Greenwald, whose book on his experience with Snowden, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State,” was recently released in paperback. We touched on the reception to the book, the events in Baltimore, Hillary Clinton’s sincerity and the importance of the controversy involving this year’s PEN Awards and Charlie Hebdo. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length.

This evening's music features Georgia Bluesman and slide guitarist Kokomo Arnold.