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Archived News
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Sunday July 24th, 2011
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From 3 to 4,500: What laws have you broken today?
posted 07/24/2011, 10:58 AM (Douglas French)
[Category: Commentary]
 The U.S. Constitution mentions three federal crimes by citizens: treason, piracy and counterfeiting. Today, there are an estimated 4,500 crimes in federal statutes, write Gary Fields and John R. Emshwiller for the Wall Street Journal.
Clarence Darrow anticipated the prison nation that America is today a hundred years ago in his book Resist Not Evil. All areas of life have become part of the penal code, with an army of people operating as police, legislators, and the court system to enforce these laws through force and violence. But even Darrow wouldn’t have dreamed that the unauthorized use of the Smokey Bear image, or of the slogan “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” can land a person in federal prison.
Fields and Emshwiller’s frightening article tells about a father and son chased by the Feds for unknowingly digging on federal ground for arrowheads. “The Andersons are two of the hundreds of thousands of Americans to be charged and convicted in recent decades under federal criminal laws--as opposed to state or local laws--as the federal justice system has dramatically expanded its authority and reach.”
The Amercian Bar Association can’t even tally up the federal offenses exactly but believe the number exceeds 3,000. The ABA’s report said “the amount of individual citizen behavior now potentially subject to federal criminal control has increased in astonishing proportions in the last few decades.”
A Justice spokeswoman told the WSJ, that there was no quantifiable number. “Criminal statutes are sprinkled throughout some 27,000 pages of the federal code,” write Fields and Emshwiller.
These crimes of the state’s making are sending 83,000 people a year to federal prison. While the US population has grown 36% in t... (more) |
The Policeman is Not Your Friend
posted 07/24/2011, 10:57 AM (Kevin Carson)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
 After writing so many columns on police issues, I suppose I should make the disclaimer that my dad was a cop. I’m morally certain he was a good man, and that — however much we might differ on politics were he still alive — he was scrupulously just by his standards.
But when I see a cop in my rearview mirror, I don’t like having to hope it’s a decent person. And there’s good reason to assume any cop you see is a bad person.
The town where my dad worked as a cop toppe... (more) |
Let Us All Sacrifice to Balance the Budget
posted 07/24/2011, 10:48 AM (Anthony Gregory)
[Category: Economy]
We’re often told that the budget can’t be cut without all of us sacrificing. This is used as a rationale to raise taxes. But it need not be that way.
After all, aren’t we also told that everyone benefits from the government? Surely the poor do, or so we hear. And the middle class? Of course we all are blessed to have the federal government be as active and large as it is. That’s what it’s mainly there for, all the politicians tell us.
The rich too must benefit immen... (more) |
2 N.J. teens labeled sex offenders for life after 'horseplay' incident
posted 07/24/2011, 10:48 AM (NJ.com)
[Category: Big Brother/Orwellian]
SOMERSET COUNTY — Call it bullying or call it horseplay. Either way, a state appellate court panel says roughhousing with a sexual connotation by a pair of 14-year-old Somerset County boys was a crime that requires them to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.
In a decision handed down Monday, the three-judge panel acknowledged the severity of its decision, but said it was bound to uphold the law.
"We are keenly aware that our decision may have prof... (more) |
11 Stunning Facts About America's Prisons
posted 07/24/2011, 10:47 AM (Business Insider)
[Category: Tyranny/Police State]
The U.S. has a greater percentage of its population locked up than any other country in the world.
Despite budget cuts and tax shortfalls housing inmates costs the country almost $600 billion a year.
Despite the rising incarceration rates over the last decade, crime is actually down.
High inmate populations are blamed on mandatory sentencing and over-zealous drug laws. ... (more) |
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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
Cop Who Karate Chopped NY Judge In Throat Gets Off Scot-Free
Florida Cop Smashes Compliant Woman's Face Into Car -- "Maybe Now You Can Understand Simple Instructions"
VIDEO: Lapel Cam Reveals A Day In The Life Of A U.S. Police Officer (Tasing, Beating, Breaking & Entering, Stomping On Heads... and Laughing About It)
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Insult Person On Twitter, Go To Jail
SWAT Team Brings TV Crew To Film Raid Against Threatening Internet Critic -- Raids Innocent Grandma Instead
Cop Karate Chops NY Judge In The Throat
When the Right to Resist Becomes the "Duty to Submit"
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<td><a id='title2' href='index.php?id=36009'><b>TSA worker stole watches, debit card from LAX bags, officials say</b></a><font face='Arial' class='Arial12'>
posted 07/24/2011, 10:57 AM (<a href='http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/tsa-worker-stole-watches-debit-cards-from-lax-luggage-officials-say.html'>Los Angeles Times</a>)<br>[<a href='index.php?categories'>Category</a>: <a href='index.php?category=Big Brother/Orwellian'><b>Big Brother/Orwellian</b></a>]<br><font face='Arial' class='Arial12'>A Transportation Security Administration officer has been indicted on five charges in the theft of four watches and a pre-paid debit card from luggage at Los Angeles International Airport, officials announced Friday. [...]<br />
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Yashou is alleged to have stolen the items from luggage going through security at LAX’s Terminal 1, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office said. According to the indictment, one of the watches was valued at about $15,000, another at $5,000 and two at $1,000. The pr</font>... <a href='index.php?id=36009'>(more)</a></font></td></table><br><table width='100%' bgcolor='white' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'>
<td><a id='title2' href='index.php?id=36008'><b>Road Shortage in Socialist Paradise</b></a><font face='Arial' class='Arial12'>
posted 07/24/2011, 10:48 AM (<a href='http://blog.mises.org/17830/road-shortage-in-socialist-paradise/'>Per Bylund</a>)<br>[<a href='index.php?categories'>Category</a>: <a href='index.php?category=Commentary'><b>Commentary</b></a>]<br><font face='Arial' class='Arial12'>
<IMG hspace='5' src='files/thumbnails/300px-Gekas_Ullared.jpg' align='left' border='1'>I have written much before on the state of Sweden, the mythical land of “working” socialism. Here is another example of how it seems to not work at all as the global myth has it. The huge discount store of <a href=){kind=link}