D.C. police responding to a report of a man with a gun shot and killed a random man who was walking his dogs and reportedly talking on his cell phone with his wife. Police claim upon confronting the man, who seemed to match the suspect, the man pulled a gun on them and shot at them. Their story is contradicted by the man's wife who says he was simultaneously talking to her on his cell phone while walking his two dogs, which is a two handed operation.
"I heard the gunfire," she said. "It was about five shots. I put on some shorts, I put on a T-shirt and I ran out the door, hopped in my car and went around the corner, and they wouldn't let me see him. They tried to handcuff me. The police tried to handcuff me to prevent me from seeing him, and they left him laying on the ground like a dead animal in the street." - Via NBC Washington
Frankly, I find it hard to believe anyone would pull a gun and start shooting randomly at a police officer for questioning them, though I suppose anything is possible. A trigger happy cop looking to be a "hero" strikes me as a more likely scenario. Hopefully there will be some sort of follow up to this incident, but for now it seems like it's the police's word against a dead man who had an "illegal" gun.
Colorado Drugged Driving Bill Dies--Again
posted 05/16/2012, 4:05 AM (StoptheDrugWar.org) [Category: Politics/Corruption] The third time wasn't the charm for Colorado legislators trying to pass a "per se" drugged driving bill aimed directly at marijuana users. The bill died last year in the Senate, it died this year in the House, and on Tuesday, it died once again after Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) brought it back for consideration during a short-lived special session he called to deal with unfinished business.
The bill, House Bill 12S-1005, would have mandated that anyone found driving with more ... (more)
Heat and Light in the TSA Line
posted 05/16/2012, 4:05 AM (Jeffrey Tucker) [Category: Commentary] Time was tight and people were rushing to catch flights. This particular terminal in Miami was usually fast, everyone knew, but for some reason, the TSA was seriously understaffed. What do they care whether people spend 90 minutes waiting in the checkpoint? They have no stake in the profitability of the airlines and no real concern for the well-being of the customer.
So there we all stood, being blasted with Orwellian messages like, "If you see something, say something." Time marc... (more)
IP-Address Can't Even Identify a State, BitTorrent Judge Rules
posted 05/16/2012, 4:05 AM (TorrentFreak) [Category: Resistance] The mass-BitTorrent lawsuits that are sweeping the United States are in a heap of trouble. After a Florida judge ruled that an IP-address is not a person, a Californian colleague has gone even further in protecting the First Amendment rights of BitTorrent users. The judge in question points out that geolocation tools are far from accurate and that it’s therefore uncertain that his court has jurisdiction over cases involving alleged BitTorrent pirates. As a result, 15 of these mass-BitTorrent law... (more)
Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says
posted 05/16/2012, 4:05 AM (AFP) [Category: Tyranny/Police State] He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.
Even "all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them," and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman.
Rogers: "Volume Is Not Going To Come Back. We've Had A Great 30 Years. That's Finished!"
posted 05/16/2012, 4:01 AM (ZeroHedge) [Category: Economy] Jim Rogers is hedging his gold (and silver) positions reflecting that this is normal, following such a tremendous run, and that this is good for the precious metal in the long-run. In his discussion with Maria Bartiromo this afternoon, he notes India's anti-gold 'protectionism' (and its potential balance of payments issues) that are trying to force the hoarding into risky 'productive' assets (as others might say). The immutable commodity maven suggests JPMorgan (and its peers) c... (more)
From Rags to Resorts
posted 05/16/2012, 4:02 AM (Doug French) [Category: Commentary] When most people think of starting a business, or contemplate others doing so, the common belief is that a person should go into a business they have knowledge in — not just something they know about, but something they know lots about. But is expert knowledge of a particular industry really a prerequisite to opening a new business in that industry or taking over an existing business?
Self-made billionaire Sheldon Adelson says the secret to his success was "never knowing anything"... (more)
During the early morning hours of May 6, 2012 Alan was murdered by an officer (whose name has yet to be released) with Oakland Police Department. His family is now seeking justice for his death.
Few Companies Fight Patriot Act Gag Orders, FBI Admits
posted 05/16/2012, 3:58 AM (Wired) [Category: Big Brother/Orwellian] Since the Patriot Act broadly expanded the power of the government to issue National Security Letters demanding customer records, more than 200,000 have been issued to U.S. companies by the FBI. But the perpetual gag orders that accompany them are rarely challenged by the ISPs and other recipients served with such letters.... (more)
Reby, an insurance adjuster, was stopped for speeding by Bates on Interstate 40. Like too many honest and innocent people, Reby made the mistake of answering questions posed by the armed stranger who materialized at the driver's side doo... (more)
Government's Idle Hands: Underwear Bomber 2.0
posted 05/15/2012, 12:35 AM (Jeffrey Tucker) [Category: Commentary] Government has a serious problem. It's got nothing worthwhile to do. All the cool things in life come from the private sector, and this is more obvious than ever. The market is creating whole worlds before our eyes, while the government seems ever more like a hopeless anachronism.
Government's life depends on public frenzy about some grand task it is seeking to accomplish. But today, there is no epic struggle, no grand historic project, no leading us to the light, no vanquishing e... (more)
Who is Jose Rodriguez? He is the criminal who ran the CIA torture program. Most of his victims were not terrorists or even insurgents. Most were hapless individuals kidnapped by warlords and sold to the Americans as “terrorists” for the bounty paid.
If Rodriguez’s identity was previously a secret, it is no more. He has been on CBS “60 Minutes” taking credit for torturing Muslims and using the informati... (more)
Talking surveillance cameras that bark orders at passers-by and can also record conversations are heading for U.S. streets, with manufacturer Illuminating Concepts announcing the progress of its ‘Intellistreets’ system.
As we first reported last year, high tech street lights with “homeland security applications” are now being installed in major U.S. ... (more)
Why Did a Culpeper Cop Kill a Retired Sunday School Teacher in a Church Parking Lot?
posted 05/15/2012, 12:33 AM (Reason) [Category: Tyranny/Police State] On February 9, 2012, 54-year-old retired Sunday school teacher Patricia Cook was shot to death in the parking lot of Epiphany Catholic School in Culpeper, Virginia. The Culpeper police officer who shot and killed Cook claims that he was responding to reports of a suspicious woman sitting in her vehicle on the school's property, and that when he went to take Cook's license, she rolled up his arm in her Jeep's window and drove off, dragging the officer and forcing him to shoot.
The proposal appears to be working its way through DHS in the wake of regulatio... (more)
Except by Accident, the Majority Is Always Wrong
posted 05/15/2012, 12:29 AM (Alvin Lowi, Jr.) [Category: Commentary] Sifting the historical record for cases affirming that the majority was on the right side of an issue fails to turn up a single "decision" where this was the result. So where is it written that the majority should rule? In the absence of affirmative evidence, a clever wag once offered the following argument:
The majority is infallible. Because no matter how stupid the propositions decided or the ones ele
Louisiana is the world's prison capital
posted 05/15/2012, 12:28 AM (NOLA) [Category: Tyranny/Police State] Louisiana is the world's prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran's, seven times China's and 10 times Germany's.... (more)
"U.S. citizens are severely restricted as to what they can invest in and where they can maintain accounts," said spokesman Tom Goodman. "Many foreign funds and banks won't accept Americans. This was a financial rather than a tax motive."... (more)
When you give up your American citizenship, it's not fair as far as i'm concerned, but the rules are that you have to pay everything, you have to pay taxes on everything you own and then you can leave. I me... (more)
Obama pushes billion-dollar stimulus plan
posted 05/15/2012, 12:28 AM (Washington Times) [Category: Economy] Putting pressure on Congress to approve parts of his latest economic stimulus plan, President Obama urged Americans Saturday to push lawmakers to approve his multibillion-dollar “to-do list” for creating jobs.
[...]The president’s list includes an expanded program to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, a proposal to give small businesses tax breaks for hiring more workers, a program that would help veterans find jobs, and an extension of tax credits for clean-energy compani... (more)
Roughly five months ago, Levii’s mother Raven Dozier was present when her brother got embroiled in a child custody dispute with a girlfriend. After the police arrived, Raven did what she could to calm her brother down. Eventually one of the officers shot the agitated man with a Taser. A thugscrum quickly coalesced as several officers inflicted gratuitous punishment on the prone and helpless man w... (more)
A pair of bullying Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies detained a photographer who snapped their picture on Hollywood Blvd, accusing him of all kinds of false crimes before handcuffing him, then searching through his camera bag without consent.
Shawn Nee – who already has a pending lawsuit against the sheriff’s department for violating his rights as a photogr... (more)
The Great Defection From The West
posted 05/14/2012, 12:19 AM (The Dollar Vigilante) [Category: Commentary] Remember a few decades ago when defection from communist countries to the west was common? Those in the west understood why. Of course they'd want to defect, they'd say. They're all but slaves in the Soviet Union... or Cuba... or China. Pick your communist paradise.
How things change. Now Russia and China are some of the great new bastions of capitalism. Sure, they've still got a dictatorial, oppressive government, but so does the US. And now the Fasco-Communist Police St... (more)
Sheriff’s deputies secretly attached a GPS tracker to the truck of a vocal local government critic who they feared was planning to kidnap her son — and then tried and failed to retrieve it for four months.
Stacy Lynne found the device on her SUV earlier this month after growing suspicious that deputies were following her. Lynne has repeatedly tangled wit... (more)
“It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they are going and they are not aware,” said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department.
[...]Officers handed out pamphlets during a short grace period in March before they began aggressively going after “dangerous walkers.”
This city has a new way of fighting crime: Employees who are out and about, trimming trees or picking up litter on the beach, are officially on the lookout for signs of a crime.
A group of about 70 landscapers and garbage truck drivers got training from the Broward Sheriff's Office this week so they know what to look for. Another group of about 35 will train next week.
BSO calls the program Operation B.O.L.O. When an em... (more)
Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.
His assets were published today in the Official Journal, the gazette which contains verified information about France’s government.... (more)
Off-duty Officer Jorge Gonzalez allegedly shot Andres Cortez in the neck on April 1, 2010, after a minor accident on Gateway West near Yar brough.
Cortez, who filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, is now a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to help him breathe.... (more)
Obama Honors Nation's Top Police Officers
posted 05/14/2012, 12:18 AM (ABC News) [Category: Politics/Corruption] WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Obama honored several dozen law enforcement officers today after they were recognized by a national police order for acts of courage or exemplary service. Standing in the spring sun of the White House's rose garden, the president told the officers and their assembled families he had looked forward to the event to simply say "thank you."
"They don't ask for a lot of credit," the president said of the nation's police officers. "They don't go to work plan... (more)
Oil transactions are usually settled in dollars but US sanctions make it difficult for Iran to accept payments in the US currency.
Iran is using the revenue to buy goods and services from China, Mohammed Reza Fayyad, Iran's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, confirmed.... (more)
The US Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a lower court decision that said the NSA need not confirm or deny any relationship with Google, because its governing statutes allow it keep such information secret.
The ruling came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from a public inter... (more)
Pirate Bay 'Censorship' Judge is Corrupt, Claims Pirate Party Founder
posted 05/14/2012, 12:17 AM (TorrentFreak) [Category: Politics/Corruption] This week yet another court order was handed down in Europe with the aim of censoring The Pirate Bay. The ruling forbids the Dutch Pirate Party from not only running a direct proxy, but also telling people how to circumvent an earlier court ordered blockade. However, according to Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge, the judge in the case has a history of corruption relating to another file-sharing case he presided over in the Netherlands.... (more)
Friday May 11th, 2012
The Life of Julia Under Anarchy
posted 05/11/2012, 6:20 PM (Kevin Carson) [Category: Commentary] As a toddler Julia will begin a twenty-odd-year sentence in institutions designed to process her into a “human resource”: Someone encultured to view the existing institutional framework and power structure as natural and inevitable, who trusts and obeys the state and takes its self-justifications at face value. Someone who takes orders from authority figures behind desks, and has been trained — at taxpayer expense — in the skills employers w... (more)
One cannot change reality by changing the words you use to describe reality. Look beneath the rhetoric, and glimpse the truth. Larken Rose provides a powerful parable for how democracy is akin to slavery.
3.6 Million Taxpayer Dollars Being Used To Support The Lavish Lifestyles Of Former Presidents Such As Bush And Clinton
posted 05/11/2012, 6:19 PM (The Economic Collapse) [Category: Politics/Corruption] You are not going to believe how much money is being spent on our former presidents. At a time when U.S. government spending is wildly out of control, a total of 3.6 million dollars is being used to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in 2012. For 2013, the plan is to increase that amount to 3.7 million dollars. But do any of them really need this kind of welfare? The truth is that all of them are very wealthy. So what justification is ... (more)
On February 21, Clark conducted a traffic stop involving Hernandez, who was suspected of drunk driving. When Clark attempted... (more)
Geraldo Rivera: I Was "Raped" By The TSA
posted 05/11/2012, 6:18 PM (Prison Planet) [Category: Big Brother/Orwellian] Fox News host Geraldo Rivera revealed today how he was “manually raped” by a TSA worker while traveling to Afghanistan, explaining how he had been persecuted by the federal agency for falsely appearing on the infamous ‘no fly list’.
Rivera appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss yesterday’s story about an eighteen-mo... (more)
SOPA Supporters Urge White House To Use Secretive TPP Process To Insert Draconian New IP Laws
posted 05/11/2012, 6:17 PM (Techdirt) [Category: Big Brother/Orwellian] We've been warning for a while about the TPP negotiations, and how the big interests who pushed SOPA were making a concerted effort to use the (very questionable and extremely secretive) nature of international trade negotiations to sneak through many of the things they wanted in SOPA, without any scrutiny. Make no mistake: while the public has no access to, or information about, what the federal government is negotiating, the big special interests are well informed. As pressure has been mount... (more)
Though it turns out that the so-called bomber unveiled by the Obama Administration on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s assassination turned out to be a CIA employee, officials still continue to try to make hay out of him being “foiled” to their own ends.
FBI Director Robert Mueller, whose bureau had absolutely nothing to do with the CIA manufactured plot, cited it as proof that Con... (more)
Government-Created Racism
posted 05/11/2012, 6:11 PM (Wendy McElroy) [Category: Commentary] A destructive belief seems poised to unfold within the public-school system in the form of new policies. The Department of Education (ED) is threatening to conduct “disparate impact” inquiries on schools that have a higher punishment, expulsion, or suspension rate for black children than for whites or Asians. A racial quota system may soon be imposed on schoo... (more)
France's Hollande: Sarkozy underplayed budget woes
posted 05/11/2012, 6:10 PM (Associated Press) [Category: Economy] PARIS (AP) -- French President-elect Francois Hollande suggested Friday that the government of outgoing leader Nicolas Sarkozy underestimated the country's budget problems and wants a new audit of France's books.
But Hollande, a Socialist elected Sunday to lead the world's fifth-biggest economy, said that wouldn't hurt his ability to fulfill campaign pledges. Those include higher taxes on the rich, thousands of new teaching jobs and freezes on some government spending.... (more)
Gotta love democracy! I had a feeling this supposed 'radical' wasn't as radical as he claimed. - Chris
Gold Bulls Weakest in Month as Investors Buy Dollar
posted 05/11/2012, 6:10 PM (Bloomberg) [Category: Economy] Gold traders are the least bullish in five weeks after the metal erased almost all of this year’s gains, as political turmoil in Europe and mounting optimism about the U.S. economy drives investors to favor the dollar.
Fourteen of 32 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to gain next week and six were neutral, the lowest proportion since April 6. Bullion futures slid to a four-month low of $1,572 an ounce today and hedge funds are making their smallest bet on a rally in abo... (more)
Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Requests Pardon
posted 05/11/2012, 6:10 PM (TorrentFreak) [Category: Big Brother/Orwellian] After being found guilty of copyright offenses in connection with the operations of The Pirate Bay, site co-founder Peter Sunde should now be beginning an 8 month jail sentence in a Swedish prison. However, in a last-ditch attempt to maintain his freedom, Sunde has asked the Swedish government for clemency citing health and business concerns.... (more)
This man should be taking The Pirate Bay public like Facebook, instead he's going to be in a government cage because he came up with an innovative business model which the government arbitrarily proclaimed illegal. - Chris
Verizon Refuses to Identify Alleged BitTorrent Pirates
posted 05/11/2012, 6:08 PM (TorrentFreak) [Category: Resistance] In its lawsuits against hundreds of alleged BitTorrent users, book publisher John Wiley and Sons has met unexpected resistance from Internet provider Verizon. For a variety of reasons including privacy concerns, the ISP is refusing to comply with a subpoena which orders the company to hand over the personal details of subscribers who are accused of pirating “For Dummies” books.... (more)
Facebook Co-Founder Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO
posted 05/11/2012, 3:09 PM (Bloomberg) [Category: Economy] Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.
Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website Who Owns Facebook. At the high end of the IPO valuation, that would be worth about... (more)
What's amazing about this is he is willing to pay the gigantic "exit tax" to get the f*^k out. Of course, only the freest and most open of countries has a tax on leaving. - Chris
The Century of the Self: The Untold History of Controlling the Masses Through the Manipulation of Unconscious Desires
Operation Gladio: The Hidden History of U.S. Sponsored False Flag Terrorism in Europe
The New American Century: The Untold History of The Project for the New American Century
Time was tight and people were rushing to catch flights. This particular terminal in Miami was usually fast, everyone knew, but for some reason, the TSA was seriously understaffed. What do they care whether people spend 90 minutes waiting in the checkpoint? They have no stake in the profitability of the airlines and no real concern for the well-being of the customer.
When most people think of starting a business, or contemplate others doing so, the common belief is that a person should go into a business they have knowledge in — not just something they know about, but something they know lots about. But is expert knowledge of a particular industry really a prerequisite to opening a new business in that industry or taking over an existing business?
Chicago cops want to make sure they're communicating clear "public safety messages" with the folks congregating to protest the upcoming NATO summit, that's why they've just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an LRAD sound cannon. 
In the State of Tennessee, highway robbery in the name of "asset forfeiture" is commonplace -- and Monterey PD Officer Larry Bates, who stole $22,000 from New Jersey businessman George Raby, is the embodiment of this unfathomably corrupt practice.
Documents just released by 
Levii Dozier is only four months old, but he’s already been assaulted by the police. 
Remember a few decades ago when defection from communist countries to the west was common? Those in the west understood why. Of course they'd want to defect, they'd say. They're all but slaves in the Soviet Union... or Cuba... or China. Pick your communist paradise.
France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.
China is buying crude oil from Iran using its currency the yuan, an Iranian diplomat has said.
As a toddler 
You are not going to believe how much money is being spent on our former presidents. At a time when U.S. government spending is wildly out of control, a total of 3.6 million dollars is being used to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in 2012. For 2013, the plan is to increase that amount to 3.7 million dollars. But do any of them really need this kind of welfare? The truth is that all of them are very wealthy. So what justification is ... 
Gold traders are the least bullish in five weeks after the metal erased almost all of this year’s gains, as political turmoil in Europe and mounting optimism about the U.S. economy drives investors to favor the dollar.
Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.
The Missing Lesson From Norway: Never Trust a Man in Uniform
"They're Only Out To Make Cold Hard American Cash"; Park Police Crack Down on Bicycle Cabs in DC
18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons
Eighth Grader Executed for Scaring a Cop
Feds Drop All Charges Against 27 Head-Shop Owners They Falsely Accused of Being Terrorist Drug Dealers
Straight-A College Student Faces 125 Years In Jail For Producing Fake IDs
Texas Cops Ticket Thousands of Schoolchildren to Raise Revenue, Some as Young as 6-Yrs-Old
Houston Police Chief: Videotaping or Criticizing Police May be Sign You're a Cop-Killer
Federal Judge Known for Stiff Drug Sentences Caught Buying Drugs for Prostitute