The Atlantic | White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, who is taking on new authority over strikes, once backed "enhanced-interrogation techniques." As I figure it, there are two death panels in the United States. One is within the C.I.A., where high-ranking intelligence professionals decide, via some opaque protocol, who they want to kill with armed drones. I used to assume that they put all the names on a list. But it was subsequently reported that sometimes the C.I.A. kills people whose identities it doesn't even know.

Senate.gov | Today on the U.S. Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul introduced an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration User Fee Reauthorization bill, which would curb the Food and Drug Associations overreach and abuse of power. Sen. Paul's amendment, No. 2143, would disarm the FDA, put an end to raids on natural food stores and Amish farmers, and stop FDA censorship of truthful claims of dietary supplements.

AP | The State Department has launched a different sort of raid against Al Qaeda -- hacking into Al Qaeda websites in Yemen. In a rare public admission of the covert cyber war against extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says cyber experts based at the State Department hacked Yemeni tribal websites, replacing Al Qaeda propaganda that bragged about killing Americans. "Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll Al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people," Clinton said Wednesday.

CBS | With the use of domestic drones increasing, concern has not just come up over privacy issues, but also over the potential use of lethal force by the unmanned aircraft. Drones have been used overseas to target and kill high-level terror leaders and are also being used along the U.S.-Mexico border in the battle against illegal immigration. But now, these drones are starting to be used domestically at an increasing rate.

Business Insider | The main story out of last night's Kentucky primaries has been the Bluegrass State's apparent distaste for President Barack Obama. But the really interesting results of the night were at the House level, where Rand Paul protégé Thomas Massie scored a landslide victory over his Establishment-backed opponents in the Republican primary for Kentucky's 4th District Congressional seat.

FT | US manufacturers have attacked plans by JPMorgan Chase to launch an exchange-traded fund backed by physical copper, arguing that the product would “grossly and artificially inflate prices” and “wreak havoc on the US and global economy”. Copper’s use in electrical wiring makes it essential to the manufacturing industry.

Ars Technica | Backers of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), have been railing against the bill's critics ever since the legislation plunged to a fiery death earlier this year. The unprecedented online protest by Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, Ars Technica, Wired, and others was, the backers say, largely about misleading the public.

Infowars | Doha Bank (Q.S.C) : The Crisis is an Opportunity to attain the UN’s Millennium Development Goals … The United Nations General Assembly’s “High-Level Thematic Debate on the State of the World Economy” was held at ECOSOC Chamber, North Lawn Building, United Nations, New York between 17- 18th May 2012. Mr. R. Seetharaman, Doha Bank Group CEO participated in the Roundtable 4 Session “Increasing stability, predictability and transparency in the financial sector on 18th May 2012. – 4-traders.com (5/20/12)

AP | The governor and other state officials would be prohibited from banning or confiscating firearms during a state of emergency under a bill signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin. Fallin signed the bill Wednesday that specifically bars any state or local official from restricting the sale, possession or transportation of firearms and ammunitions, even during a declared state of emergency.

 NYT | A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama Bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said. A tribal court in northwestern Pakistan here found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region. Along with the jail term, the court imposed a fine of $3,500. Dr. Afridi, who may appeal the verdict, was then sent to Central Prison in Peshawar.

Independent | The crisis at JP Morgan escalated yesterday as it emerged its trading losses in London could rise to as much as $7bn (£4.5bn) and the US bank cancelled a share buyback. Fears were growing that the losses could spiral from an initial $2bn, which was declared on 10 May, as JP Morgan struggles to unwind the massive bets made by the so-called "London Whale" trader Bruno Iksil.

Natural Society | Processed foods are the staple of far too many diets, particularly in the United States where 105 million people have either diabetes or prediabetes. These processed foods are filled with white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame, artificial food colorings, and a wide variety of other toxic substances. Interestingly enough, research shows that these are some of the worst IQ foods. Given the makeup of processed foods, is it any wonder that children are suffering from IQ reduction upon introducing these foods into their diet?

Guardian | France's attempt to ban the planting of a Monsanto strain of genetically modified maize was rejected by the EU's food safety body on Monday. In response to scientific evidence submitted by France backing its bid to ban the GM maize, the European Food Safety Authority ruled that "there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment" to support a ban.

RT | Every time a “Bilderberg Meeting” takes place, important things happen. The last time they met in the US was an election year, 2008 – and the world got Obama. This year they’re back in the US: will they decide who the next president of the United State. When in 2008 they gathered from June 5 to 8 in Chantilly, Virginia – just a stone’s throw from the Washington DC – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were neck-in-neck in the battle for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidacy.

Huffington Post | The Department of Homeland Security has launched a program to "facilitate and accelerate the adoption" of small, unmanned drones by police and other public safety agencies, an effort that an agency official admitted faces "a very big hurdle having to do with privacy." The $4 million Air-based Technologies Program, which will test and evaluate small, unmanned aircraft systems, is designed to be a "middleman" between drone manufacturers and first-responder agencies "before they jump into the pool," said John Appleby, a manager in the DHS Science and Technology Directorate's division of borders and maritime security.