Barbara Banaian, Times Writers Group Published 5:00 p.m. CT Nov. 29, 2019

Barbara Banaian(Photo: Submitted photo)

The term "whistleblower" once evoked images of 19th-century British bobbiesblowing their whistles to alert the public or colleagues to danger from suspects running away.This was an important part of law enforcement.

Whistleblowers have a long history of reporting wrongdoing, including Benjamin Franklin, who, in 1773, disclosed confidential letters showing that the royally-appointed governor of Massachusetts was misleading Parliament.

At the center of the impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives is a whistleblowerwhose report is pivotal to the investigation.We want an investigation that is fair and transparent, and we want the law honored.

The law to be honored is both a federal statuteand the Sixth Amendment.And there appears to be a conflict.The statute is the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 (ICWPA).

TheICWPA says that when filing a report with the Inspector General about an urgent concern, the whistleblower is protected against retaliation by the executive branch upon reporting wrongdoing.They cannot be fired, passed over for promotion, denied educational benefitsor otherwise prevented from career advancement.An act of retaliation leads to a separate whistleblower complaint and investigation and constitutes a separate felony.

But protection from retaliation does not lead to a requirement of anonymity.

The Sixth Amendment is about criminal prosecutions and says an accused person has the rightto be confronted with the witnesses against him and be able to compel testimony that demonstrates his innocence.

An impeachment hearing is a hearing, not a trial.Both Democrats and Republicans have been in attendanceand have been able to ask questions, but only of the witnesses that the chair of the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, has permitted.And he does not want the whistleblower to testify, in order to maintain anonymity and protect them from retaliation.

To permit the hearing to proceed, Schiff has had others testify to confirm the statements in the whistleblower complaint, making that persons testimony unnecessary in his view.Because a hearing is not a trial, the Sixth Amendment does not apply here.

If articles of impeachment are voted out of the House of Representatives, the Senate sits as a trial court, and it may be here that the Sixth Amendment rights of the accused President Trump would be upheld.

Whistleblowing has a long history dating back to 7th-century England (in which a king offered to split the earnings of anyone who violated the Sabbath law).In 1778, the Continental Congress commended marines who turned in fellow marines who had mistreated British prisoners.

What is important about getting protection underICWPA is that the whistleblower follows the law.Mark Felt, an associate director of the FBIwho became the famous "Deep Throat" from the Watergate scandal, gave his information to a newspaper rather than report it up the chain of command, no doubt because the law at the time did not have whistleblower protections.He stayed anonymous until he was 91 years of age, almost 30 years later.

Had the whistleblower here gone to a newspaper like Edward Snowden, theywould not be entitled to protection.This whistleblower tried to follow the law.

But still there is a fine line to walk:The whistleblower has rights against retaliation, and President Trump has not been bashful about using his Twitter account to criticize those who speak against him.Just look at what happened to AmbassadorMarie Yovanovitch.

Would this be sufficient to constitute retaliation, however? It seems the Sixth Amendment right still exists (if only when this reaches the Senate), but that a separate article could be filed by the House if the whistleblowers rights against retaliation are violated.

Rooting out corruptionand other high crimes is a good thing especially in government.We value this.

The rights of the accuser will have to balance against the rights of the accused.Whistleblowers have an important function, and shouldn't be discouraged .

This is the opinion of Barbara Banaian, a professional pianist who lives in the St. Cloud area. Her column is published the first Sunday of the month.

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Whistleblowers have a long history - and should be protected - SC Times

The Beatles are the worlds most popular band from the 1960s. The band sold over 800 million albums. They had 20 Billboard number one hits. They changed the face of rock and roll and pop music and influenced music. The Fab Four each went on to have successful solo careers following their 1970 breakup. The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were all inducted for their successful solo careers.

Sixteen year old John Lennon and fifteen year old Paul McCartney met in Liverpool, England, in the summer of 1957 and began writing music together. McCartneys friend Harrison joined the duo and began playing lead guitar in 1958. The group played in local clubs, and Pete Best joined the group as a drummer in 1960, and Lennons school friend, Staurt Sutcliffe joined the group as bass player that year. The foursome hired manager Brian Epstein and Producer George Martin and began recording. Ringo Starr became the bands drummer in 1962 with the four remaining Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr sharing writing and performance skills, although Lennon and McCartney continued to be the main songwriters.

The Beatles music became a hit in the early 1960s. Beatlemania hit the world by 1964, and the group toured internationally. They began making films including A Hard Days Night and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York City. During their decade recording and touring together, The Beatles deeply influenced the music scene combining rock and roll, pop and counter cultural music. They experimented with psychedelic, Indian, hard rock and ballad styles. Each of the Fab Four went on to have successful solo careers. Lennon was shot and killed by a disgruntled fan in December 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain active in the music scene.

Here is how we would cast a biopic about The Beatles:

There are many great actors who could portray John Lennon. Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be perfect in the role. Gordon-Levitt is a good actor who has shown the ability to transform himself for a role. He could easily play a young John Lennon, through his successful Beatles years and his solo career through his tragic death in 1980. Gordon-Leavitt began his acting career as a child with roles in television and film including 1992s A River Runs through It. He went on to appear in the sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun from 1996 through 2001. He studied acting at Columbia University. He won awards for his role in 2009s 500 Days of Summer. Hes also a singer. Gordon-Levitt recently starred as CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden in the 2016 biopic Snowden.

Jim Sturgess would be a great choice to play the iconic Paul McCartney in a Beatles biopic. Sturgess is an English actor and singer. His break out role was in 2007s Across the Universe. The Julie Taymor directed film used The Beatles music as a backdrop for the romantic musical drama that followed Jude (played by Sturgess) as he searched the world for love. Sturgess has appeared on many television shows and films including The Other Boleyn Girl Cross Over and The Way Back. Hes performed his own music since he was 15 years old and recently records and performs with his band Tragic Tears.

Who better to play George Harrison in a Beatles biopic than his own son, Dhani Harrison? Dhani not only looks like his father, he also inherited his dads musical gifts. Dhani was born in 1978 to Harrison and his wife Olivia. He was named after the sixth and seventh notes of the Indian music scale. Dhani grew up with his fathers music. He formed his own band thenewno2 and performed at musical festivals including Lollapalooza and Coachella. Dhani performed with his dad on his final album, Brainwashed and finished the album after his dads 2001 death from lung cancer. Harrison plays multiple instruments, writes, composes and sings his own material. He has produced scores fro television and film including 2013s Beautiful Creatures and Netflixs Dogs.

Tom Dunlea would make a great Ringo Starr in a Beatles biopic. Dunlea is a young British musician and actor who appears to be ready to catch a great break in film. He has the looks a young Ringo Starr and would be able to carry his charisma into the role. Dunlea can sing, play the keyboard and play the drums. He appeared in 2011s Actor Musicianship and 2013s Jimi: All Is By My Side about musician and rock legend Jimi Hendrix. In 2014 Dunlea appeared in Cilla and The Guvnors.

British actor, film producer and musician Tom Hiddleston would make a great George Martin in a Beatles biopic. Hiddleston studied at Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his career on stage in Londons West End, has appeared in television and in film. He has won several awards including a Lawrence Olivier Award and a Golden Globe Award. Hiddleston continues to appear in theater and television. He has played the role of Loki in Marvel Studios since 2011 in Thor and The Avengers series.

There would be several other roles to cast in a biopic about The Beatles including important characters who helped get the band where they were and after they became one of the most successful bands of all time. The band members found their rhythm and their sound, made it big at a young age, and disappointingly, broke up. However, they went on to have successful solo careers and influenced countless other bands at a time when rock music was taking many different paths. Some other important roles to cast in a biopic of The Beatles include Pete Best, Staurt Sutcliff and Brian Epstein as well as the women in the members of The Beatles lives including Cynthia Lennon, Yoko Ono and Patti Boyd.

More:
Casting a Biopic About The Beatles - TVOvermind

One aspect of hacking is to point out security flaws, so companies will take the time to improve their security features. In this case, the hacking involves smashing a car window when someone detects a laptop might be hidden under a seat. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

It takes tech savvy burglars to rob tech savvy people. Right? Well not exactly. A lot of the tech that car burglars use isnt that savvy; it can be downloaded directly onto any smartphone.

Heres a simple formula: laptops emit a wireless signal; a Bluetooth scanner can detect devices that emit wireless signals. As Wired recently noted, in the tech-epicenter of San Francisco, theres been a rise of laptops and gadgets being stolen from cars.

SEE ALSO: How a Hacked Light Bulb Can Lead to a Drained Bank Account

Smash-and-grabs, if you will.

In numerous cases, smash-and-grabbers are only stealing electronics from carswhen the vehicles also contain other valuablesso, hiding a laptop under a car seat wont do the trick.

Lets play Sherlock and deconstruct. Many laptops and gadgets have a default mode, in which, if the Bluetooth is turned on, it allows other Bluetooth devices to find them for the purpose of pairingeven if, say, the laptop is closed or in sleep mode. Thus, thieves are using Bluetooth scanners to target cars that are emitting wireless signals from the devices inside.

Case solved, Sherlock.

Using Bluetooth scanners for wireless device detection is a method also used by security professionals to detect prohibited devices at a workplace. Bluetooth scanners on Amazon cost somewhere in the $40 to $150 range. You can even install a Bluetooth scanner app from the Google Play store, which uses a smartphones internal Bluetooth sensors to find a list of nearby wireless signalsagain, for potential pairing, or in this case, thievery. Basically, the Bluetooth scanner app makes detecting potential stolen goods easier than swiping right on Tinder.

Better not get this app into the hands of evildoers who like to smash-and-grab for fun.

Sure, you could argue that maybe these burglars are simply staking out parking lots to see if people are stashing their laptops after parking their cars. But the thing is: Monica Rueda, a San Jose Police Department crime prevention specialist, told Wired that often times only the electronics are stolen from vehicles, while other valuables remained un-stolen and intact. Not to give criminals any pointers, but why take the risk of breaking into a car if you cant be sure if something of value is inside?

Even more car tech woes, Wired also reported how hackers are using an $11 radio gadget to spoof the signal from wireless car key fobs to open vehicles doors. How it works: one thief holds a radio gadget a few feet from the victims key, while his compadre holds the other gadget near the target car. The attack tricks both the car and real key into thinking theyre in close proximity.

Lets watch the fun.

In the case of laptop thievery, as Edward Snowden pointed out, our smartphones provide a direct digital footprint and record of your location. Meanwhile, if your device is emitting a wireless signal, it too can be detected. Thus, in our brave new world, theres always easy surveillance of both humans and devices.

So, its advised, if you are going to leave a device in a car, put laptops and gadgets in airplane mode or fully power them down if left unattended, rather than in sleep or standby mode. Further, even if you think a devices battery is dead, it might not actually be dead and could still be emitting a signal.

Much like burner phones, the need for burner laptops, which allow you to remove the battery, has arisen.

One aspect of hacking is to point out security flaws, so companies will take the time to improve their security features. In this case, the hacking involves smashing a car window when someone detects a laptop might be hidden under a seat.

So, I guess a big lesson to learn is never, ever leave your laptop in a caruntil this small, and easily detectable, security glitch can be worked out.

View original post here:
How Easy Is It to Steal a Hidden Laptop From a Car? - Observer

Advocates for digital privacy are finding allies among librarians.

The Library Freedom Project trains librarians and advocates for measures that protect privacy, like laws banning facial recognition software.

Founder Alison Macrina spoke this week at Yale Law School. She said the project began in 2013 after leaks by CIA contractor Edward Snowden revealed extensive surveillance programs.

I just got really interested in the surveillance and privacy problem, not just what we learned from Snowden but the specific ways that high-level stuff impacts local communities.

Macrina says librarians can help people make their passwords more secure, protect their data from corporations like Google and Facebook, and even guard themselves from online stalkers.

She says privacy and intellectual freedom are among their professional standards.

Public librarians in particular have these spaces that anybody can come and use. If you want to walk into a public library, you dont have to be a taxpayer. You dont have to have a home or a job.

The program has trained more than 40 librarians across the country.

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Library Freedom Project Helps Patrons Protect Themselves Online - WSHU

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the social media company's main platform has removed 5.4 billion fake accounts this year, dwarfing the 3.3 billion they removed in all of 2018. Many of these accounts were flagged as fake simply because of user misclassification Facebook does not permit nonhuman entities to have accounts, only pages. However, a significant amount of the banned accounts were malicious, representing scammers or distributors of fake news. In total, Facebook's recent transparency report estimated that 5 percent of active user accounts are fake, but outsiders estimate that figure as being much higher, potentially as high as 20 percent.

Facebook established its transparency report in 2013 as a response, in part, to Edward Snowden's revelations of that year, in which he leaked information regarding widespread government surveillance programs. The transparency report offered a means of letting users know how frequently Facebook received government requests for data.

In recent years, however, more attention has been paid to the report's focus on fake accounts and community standards as the social media company has been under fire for its role in the spread of fake news, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The huge spike in fake accounts that Facebook has taken down is partly due to improved methods for identifying them. Facebook claims that over 99 percent of fake accounts on their platform are automatically taken down within minutes of their creation before any user reports them as being fake. Thus, the majority of malicious accounts don't have the opportunity to take advantage of any unsuspecting users, but it's inevitable that some are slipping through the cracks.

With the 2020 elections and the new census on the horizon, a great deal of attention has been paid on how Facebook handles potentially manipulative content on its platform. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced that it would no longer be accepting political ads, while Zuckerberg affirmed that Facebook would continue to do so and does not fact-check the content in those ads. This decision, coupled with Facebook's fake accounts issue, has generated significant criticism over the social media company's impact on public discourse.

One high-profile use case for fake accounts is to spread propaganda in an effort to influence political outcomes. For instance, many fake social media accounts were developed by Russian agents prior to the 2016 election to drive traffic towards the DCLeaks website, a front for the Russian espionage group known as Fancy Bear which contained the stolen personal information of various prominent politicians. While this site contained real information intended for propaganda purposes, other accounts actively spread fake news stories. Leading up to the 2016 election, one fake news headline, for example, read "FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide," while another asserted that people were using food stamps to buy pot in Colorado.

These challenges aren't limited to just the U.S., either. A great deal of the online support for the far-right German party AfD has been found to be connected to suspicious accounts, and 30,000 fake accounts were removed in France prior to the 2017 election.

However, not all fake accounts are made by state actors with the purpose of spreading disinformation. Romance scammers often impersonate attractive individuals frequently military members, oddly enough to gain others' trust before announcing a fictional emergency. Then, the scammers ask their confidants for money to help out. Other scams exist, but they all follow the same basic formula: gain a target's trust; mine them for useful information regarding, for example, their background, their hopes, their family, their problems; and then manipulate them into giving the scammer money.

It's hard to imagine that Facebook will be able to crack down on every fake account out there. That's why the best thing we can do in the face of these adversaries is to better educate ourselves on basic cybersecurity practices, develop our critical thinking skills to evaluate fake news, and learn to be more suspicious of others online. Unfortunately, the sheer scale of Facebook users and fake accounts means that at least some individuals will fall victim to disinformation campaigns and scams from time to time.

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Who's messaging you? Billions of fake accounts on Facebook - Big Think

Dozens ofprogressive and libertarian-leaning lawmakers on Wednesday threw their support behind significantly revising a set of government surveillance authoritiesthat are set to expire within months.

Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and conservative House Freedom Caucus signed onto a letter calling for "meaningful, bipartisan surveillance reform" just as Congress voted to extend those controversial provisions for another three months.

At the last minute, lawmakers tucked the 90-day surveillance authority extensioninto the temporary government funding measure, which passed theHouse 231-192 onTuesday. Thecontinuing resolution (CR), which allowed Congress to avoid an immediate government shutdown, gavekey committees three more months to debate what they want to do about the set of controversial surveillance authorities.

The House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee have jurisdiction over the USA Freedom Act, the bill that isset to expire, which allows the government to comb through phone records on millions of Americans and tracktargets during terrorism investigations.

Its unfortunate that we still have no agreement on critical privacy and civil liberties provisions that must be included in any final reauthorization of the USA Freedom Act," Rep. Pramila JayapalPramila JayapalJayapal hits back at Biden on marijuana 'prohibition' Progressive House Democrat unveils bill to allow state-based 'Medicare for All' Progressives press Democrats to rethink Israel policy MORE (D-Wash.) said in a statement on Wednesday. "Ive been deeply engaged with my Judiciary and Intelligence colleagues to make significant changes to any reauthorization billwere making good progress and hope to complete our work before this 90-day extension period ends."

Jayapal said the short-term extension was necessary because without it, the Senate might have pushed a "full reauthorization through with no changes" ahead of the original Dec. 15 expiration date. Now, the provisions likely won't expire until March 15.

"Our goal now is to ensure the final reauthorization contains our critical limits and protections on surveillance and privacy," Jayapal said.

In the letter sent to the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on Tuesday, a group of 49 lawmakers called for significant reforms. Theyasked for a total repeal of the call detail records program, whichallows the government toaccess phone records on millions of Americans every year during terrorism investigations, and strict restrictions on surveillance "that threatens First Amendment protected activities."

The lawmakers are asking to "prevent large-scale collection" of information on U.S. citizens and impose "strict limits" around how the government is allowed to use information obtained during criminal investigations.

"Disclosures over the past several years make clear that existing expansive surveillance powers pose an unacceptable threat to civil rights and civil liberties," the letter reads. "These laws contain numerous loopholes that can be exploited to improperly surveil people based on speech, race, religion, and other impermissible factors."

"Members should be given the opportunity to consider and vote on surveillance reform legislation as a standalone measure in the House, and not tucked into an expansive omnibus or budget bill," they wrote.

One of the expiring provisions, known as Section 215,is particularly contentious because it enables the phone records program, which was originally disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. That program was pared down by the USA Freedom Act in 2015, and the National Security Agency (NSA) disclosed this year that it shuttered the effort entirely amid insurmountable technical difficulties.

Bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers have questioned whetherto extend the NSA's ability to reopen that program at any point, as the Trump administration has requested.

Under the CR,the provisions are set to expire on March 15 rather than next month.

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Dozens of lawmakers call for government surveillance reforms | TheHill - The Hill

The stopgap government funding measure on which the House is set to vote Tuesday would give Congress more time to debatea set of controversial government surveillance provisionscurrently set to expire by Dec. 15.

One last-minute addition to thecontinuing resolution (CR)would give Congress 90 more days to debate whether it wants to reauthorize the expiring provisions of the USA Freedom Act,adivisive bill that allowsthe government to access phone recordsof millions of Americans. The House is largely expected to pass the CR this week.

A source familiar with the debate around the USA Freedom Act told The Hill thatkey lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee quickly realized there was not enough time for Congress to decide what to do about the surveillance provisions before Dec. 15 when they sat down to negotiate this month.

The source said itwas "easier to tuck it in" to the continuing resolution. They noted the lawmakers felt "impeachment has gotten in the way" of the negotiation process around the expiring surveillance provisions and that a longer timeline would give them more space to hammer out an agreement without such an intensive time constraint.

"Yeah thats gonna be a no from me dog," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezSanders doubles down on Bolivia 'coup,' few follow suit Hillicon Valley: Progressives oppose funding bill over surveillance authority | Senators call for 5G security coordinator | Facebook gets questions over location tracking | Louisiana hit by ransomware attack Overnight Energy: Mark Ruffalo pushes Congress on 'forever chemicals' | Lawmakers spar over actor's testimony | House Dems unveil renewable energy tax plan | Funding for conservation program passes Senate hurdle MORE (D-N.Y.) tweeted on Monday, referring to extending the surveillance provisions for three months.

Ocasio-Cortez's input signaled there may be some broader progressive pushback to the CR on Tuesday.

For months, Congress has been gearingupfor a battle over whether to reauthorize expiring provisionsin the USA Freedom Act, a 2015 surveillance reform bill that passedfollowing whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations aboutthe enormous amount of sensitive information the government was collecting on everyday Americans.

The USA Freedom Act created a pared-down version of the mass phone records surveillance program that Snowden brought to light. And now, months after top intelligence officials revealed that theNational Security Agency (NSA)shuttered the program as it struggled to adhere to the reforms, lawmakers are tasked with deciding whetherthe government should retain the authority toreopen it at any point.

The Trump administration has asked Congress toallow the NSA to retain the abilityto start theprogram back up. But even Republican lawmakers have publicly questionedwhether they want to reauthorize a program that was shut down amid enormous technical difficulties.

While the USA Freedom Act contains multiple surveillance provisions that will be up for reauthorization, the phone records program remains the most divisive.

The House will vote Tuesday on thefunding stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown, pushing the deadline for an agreement from Nov. 21 to Dec. 20.

Updated at 7:04 p.m.

Originally posted here:
Funding stopgap would give Congress more time to debate expiring surveillance provisions | TheHill - The Hill

Hello! Today we did a major analysis of Edward Snowdens Twitter activity. Lets get started. First, the simple stuff: as of 2019-11-19, Edward Snowden (@Snowden) has 4179999 Twitter followers, is following 1 people, has tweeted 4483 times, has liked 365 tweets, has uploaded 372 photos and videos and has been on Twitter since December 2014.

Going from the top of the page to the bottom, their latest tweet, at the time of writing, has 37 replies, 77 retweets and 1,043 likes, their second latest tweet has 19 replies, 271 reweets and 635 likes, their third latest tweet has 5 replies, 165 retweets and 455 likes, their fourth latest tweet has 61 replies, 442 retweets and 1,683 likes and their fifth latest tweet has 31 replies, 520 retweets and 1,019 likes. But thats enough numbers for now

MOST POPULAR:

Going through Edward Snowdens last couple-dozen tweets (and retweets), the one we consider the most popular, having incited a very nice 342 direct replies at the time of writing, is this:

That looks to have caused quite a lot of different comments, having also had 2028 retweets and 4167 likes.

LEAST POPULAR:

And what about Edward Snowdens least popular tweet in the recent past (including stuff they retweeted)? We reckon its this one:

That only had 3 direct replies, 29 retweets and 53 likes.

THE VERDICT:

We did a ton of research into Edward Snowdens Twitter activity, looking through what people were saying in response to them, their likes/retweet numbers compared to before, the amount of positive/negative responses and so on. We wont drone on and on about the numbers, so our verdict is this: we believe the online sentiment for Edward Snowden on Twitter right now is terrific, and the vast majority of people seem to like them.

Thats it for now. Thanks for coming, and drop a comment if you disagree with me. However, we wont publish anything overly rude.

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Edward Snowden & Twitter What On Earth? (2019-11-19) - Global Real News

In 2010, young senate staffer Daniel Jones is tasked with heading up an investigation into the CIAs systematic torture of Muslim and Arab detainees following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The most infamous of these torture techniques was the now-discredited waterboarding, whereby water is poured into the nose and mouth of the victim to give him the sense of drowning. This was done in an effort to force out information leading to the arrest and imprisonment of those responsible for the 9/11 terrorst attacks.

As we now know, waterboarding (or any of the CIAs torture methods) did not produce one strand of usable evidence and, more often than not, produced lies from victims who would say anything in an effort to end the waterboarding. But when Jones investigation began, some pundits and politicos were convinced that torture had led to the arrest of many involved in 9/11 a feeling only intensified with the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Jones task was difficult, and information came slowly. The CIA patently refused to cooperate with the investigation and forbade any of its members to testify. Jones and his small staff obtained information from the internet and from computer access to CIA files, memos and letters.

Come to find out, the CIA was aware waterboarding and similar extreme measures were ineffective, but continued using them to fit the narrative that something was being done to produce information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the single-greatest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. When the CIA produced its own report, waterboarding was hailed as an effective method, even though CIA leadership knew otherwise.

After six painstaking years of discovery, Jones and his crew produced a nearly 7,000-page report which resulted in the CIA suing the Senate Intelligence Committee to cover up publication of the report.

If this episode in recent U.S. history sounds like it would make for a snooze-fest of a motion picture, think again. Scott Z. Burns new film The Report makes the art of discovery fascinating, as layers upon layers of information are revealed. In a sense, The Report succeeds in much the same way Spotlight did, as a team of Boston Globe reporters uncovered layers of clues regarding the Catholic priest sexual-abuse scandal in Boston. While The Report never rises to that level, all the excitement generates from the discovery of facts and clues.

I equate The Report more to Oliver Stones Snowden, which presented notorious whistleblower Edward Snowden in an heroic light for going public with the CIAs global surveillance program. Here, Jones and his half-dozen fellow workaholics are the heroes for exposing a program which painted the U.S. in a negative light.

Ironically, the Obama administration works against Jones investigation. Barack Obama took office in 2009 with the goal of eliminating partisanship. The last thing he wanted was to circle back with an investigation of the previous administration even though he personally suspected everything in the report was true. Politically, Obamas goal was to mend fences. In practice, he tried to cover up the Senate Intelligence Committees report on extreme torture during the George W. Bush administration.

California Sen. Diane Feinstein chaired the intelligence committee during Jones investigation, and it is she (along with a few other Democrats) who encourages Jones to dig deeper until the truth is uncovered. She occasionally has to provide the voice of reason at least from a political perspective although her desire to publicize the truth is often stronger than her political reservation.

In The Report, Daniel Jones is played by Adam Driver, who succeeds in yet another fabulous performance. His character is all business and slowly becomes personally consumed by the task at hand. Feinstein is brilliantly played by Annette Bening, who turns in her best performance since American Beauty 20 years ago. Bening plays Feinstein so convincingly, we forget were watching Annette Bening. It feels like Sen. Feinstein is actually playing herself in this film.

The supporting cast is strong, particularly the always reliable Maura Tierney as the CIA operative who headed up the torture regime following 9/11, and Douglas Hodge as the psychologist who sold the enhanced interrogation program to the CIA in 2001.

These early scenes are told in flashback format, but its not hard to follow, as the flashback scenes are presented with a different color format to give them a yellowed, older look.

While The Report may not rank as one of the years very best films, its superior to most of the drivel Hollywood cranks out these days. And for a picture with almost no action scenes save for some intense torture sequences during the flashbacks it holds our interest throughout its almost two-hour running time. Burns, directing from his own original screenplay, is the logical person to direct The Report. Hes responsible for the Bourne Ultimatum series which is obviously similar, although fictional. Steven Soderbergh produced The Report, and the result is a tight, well-written work in which the thrills come from the uncovering of information, and the presentation of potentially damaging facts as crucial in a democracy.

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The Report delivers the goods - Current in Carmel

Today is Wednesday, November 20 and the 45-foot white spruce tree arrived on Boston Common yesterday marking 102 years of friendship between Nova Scotia and Boston, read more on the Boston Herald.

Heres what else you need to know for today

8:30AM One Waterfront Initiative at Rowes Wharf. Join us for a conversation with the Trustees of Reservations to learn about the One Waterfront Initiative an ambitious project to build a network of new green open spaces along Bostons inner harbor. Hear from Nick Black, the managing director of the Trustees Boston Waterfront Initiative about the successes and challenges, plans for community outreach, partnerships with Massport and the City of Boston, and feasibility studies that have shaped the initiatives progress in East Boston, South Boston, and the North End. Free tickets here.

3:00PM Kids LEGO Club. Join the North End Library after school to build whatever you can imagine using LEGOs and DUPLOs.

4:00PM BTU Homework Help. Stop by the North End Library for a homework helper program sponsored by the Boston Teachers Union. The BTU provides a teacher to help children with their homework for free.

6:30PM Book Club at the Library. Join the North End Library for a book discussion on No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden by Glenn Greenwald.

7:00PM The Snow Leopard Project and Other Adventures in Warzone Conservation in Afghanistan. Lecture and book signing at the New England Aquarium. Following decades of war, Dr. Alex Dehgan moved to Afghanistan in 2006 to build the Wildlife Conservation Societys Afghanistan Program to protect snow leopards and other endangered species there. His recent book takes readers along with him and his team through some of the most dangerous places in postwar Afghanistan as they work to establish the countrys first national park. Register here.

A new hotel at 111 North Street has begun construction on a new 212-room Hilton-branded project near the Rose Kennedy Greenway and Haymarket. This particular Canopy brand of hotels by Hilton is intended to be more integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods meaning they may offer communal events, etc, read more on Curbed Boston.

Thursday, November 21

10:30AM Seniors Connect! Presents: Alzheimers Disease and related CTE. Stop by the North End Library where Dr. Michael Alosco will discuss recent advances in Alzheimers research, including discussion on risk factors, prevention, and clinical trial outcomes. He will also touch on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and its relation to Alzheimers Disease.

6:00PM Urban Renewal Community Meeting Downtown Waterfront-Faneuil Hall. The Boston Planning & Development Agency invites the surrounding community to a meeting at City Hall to discuss updates to the Downtown Waterfront-Faneuil HallUrban RenewalPlan Area, see additional details here.

7:00PM Downtown Schools Night at Hill House 74 Joy Street. Learn more about Bostons excellent public schools, from parents with children in those schools. This discussion will focus on nearby public elementary schools, with families sharing their views and experiences with their school. We currently expect to discuss the Hurley and Blackstone (South End), Quincy (Chinatown), Eliot (North End), and Harvard-Kent and Warren-Prescott (Charlestown) schools.

7:30PM Through the Lens: Jewish Classics, Celebrated and Unknown at 390 Commercial Street. Founder and Director of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival, cellist Aron Zelkowicz, will perform with acclaimed artists pianist Christina Wright-Ivanova and mezzo-soprano Lynn Torgove important Jewish works by under-represented composers such as Joachim-Yehoyachin Stutschewsky, Joan Szymko, Gerald Cohen and Julius Chajes. This stunningly powerful and beautiful program will educate and inspire audiences about Jewish heritage and culture through music, see additional details here.

Friday, November 22

12:30PM ABCD Thanksgiving celebration. The ABCD North End / West End Neighborhood Service Center will hold their Thanksgiving Celebration on Friday, November 22. There will be turkey with all the trimmings, including pumpkin pie! See the event flyer here.

7:00PM Nazzaro Youth Program BINGO. The Nazzaro Center will be hosting a Friday Night Bingo event for the 10-12 youth program at 30 N Bennet Street, see additional details here.

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