Astonishingly violent police officers have just been reinstated with back pay to the Denver police force despite being fired for allegations of excessive force and lying on police reports, 9 News reports.
"I'm upset. I'm very hurt," Ana Ortega told 9Wants to Know. Ortega says she was one of the women who was pepper sprayed.
Aspiring dictator-in-chief Mitt Romney says people the government accuses of terrorism don't deserve any rights, he assures the crowd he won't abuse the power to detain US citizens indefinitely because of his "sufficient character."
Mitt then proceeds to throw a fit because Obama said he wants to cut 8% of the scheduled future increases to the military... (more)
With the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act into law, more Americans than ever before are wondering how the country could have descended so quickly into a police state. Far from a unique or isolated act, however, the NDAA is just... (more)
In The Washington Post yesterday, Law Professor Jonathan Turley has an Op-Ed in which he identifies ten major, ongoing assaults on core civil liberties in the U.S. Many of these abuses were accelerated during the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11, but all have been vigorously continued and/or expanded by President Obama. Turley points out tha... (more)
A US soldier has told a military jury in California how his commander killed five Iraqi civilians in the western al-Anbar province in 2005 and then asked him to lie about it.
At a trial stemming from one of the Iraq war's most controversial episodes, Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz testified on Wednesday, the third day of Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich's court ... (more)
Following reports of cancer clusters at Boston-Logan Airport, the TSA is set to test its naked body scanner operators for radiation exposure, but still refuses to test the actual machines that thousands of Americans are forced to pass through each day.
“After years of rebuffing health concerns over airport scanners, the Transportation Security Administration plans to conduct new tests on the potential radiation exposure from the machines at more than 100 airports nationwide... (more)
Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned.
Even though a public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports--it purchased 300 body scanners last year that used alternative technology... (more)
Last week, we noted that Jimmy Wales was in favor of a blacking out Wikipedia on Wednesday in protest of PIPA, joining with Reddit and lots of other sites, but that the community need to weigh in quickly. It appears they've now done so, as Wales is telling students to do their homework early, because the site is a goner for Wednesday: ... (more)
A Melbourne, Florida cop turned off his audio and video equipment before beating a 66-year-old man suffering from dementia "for no apparent reason," WFTV reports.
The officer turned off his video and audio equipment before the beating. The depa
Everyone knows that the US government is bankrupt and has been for many years. But I thought it might be instructive to see what its current cash-flow situation actually is. At least insofar as it's possible to get a clear picture.
As you know, the so-called Super Committee recently tried to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion and failed completely. To anyone who understands the nature of the political process, the failure was, of course, as predic... (more)
The secrecy of the Federal Reserve is legendary, but pressure in recent years has led to some opening up. Already in the last 12 months, we've seen some eye-popping records of who received credit during the 2008-09 credit crunch. We've seen lists of institutions that the Fed favors, and these lists have confirmed the worst fears. Hint: It's all about the big banks.
But now we get the really fun stuff. The transcripts, released five years after the fact, of the open market committe... (more)
The US Department of Defense recently promulgated a new “defense” guidance document: “Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense." I use scare quotes because it just doesn’t seem quite right to use “defense” to describe a document that — like its predecessors — envisions something like an American Thousand-Year Reich.
The greatest shift in emphasis is in the section "Project power despite Anti-Access/Area De... (more)
Every year, the State Department issues reports on individual rights in other countries, monitoring the passage of restrictive laws and regulations around the world. Iran, for example, has been criticized for denying fair public trials and limiting privacy, while Russia has been taken to task for undermining due process. Other countries have been condemned for the use of secret evidence and torture.
The Huffington Post is wrongly reporting the White House will not support SOPA or PIPA. If you read the White House's actual statement, it's full of strongly worded language, but absolutely nowhere does it say they will not support the bills. On the other hand, it does s... (more)
Every tiny government fine is ultimately backed up by the barrel of a gun. Refuse to pay and you will be thrown into a government cage, sufficiently resist and police will murder you over something as small as a ticket.
In this case, these Amish men are being jailed because they refused to pay a series of fines levied against them for not having orange triangle reflectors on the back of their horse-drawn buggies.
"Thank you," said the clerk at the municipal court as she handed me back my credit card. I paid a ticket for one of the few "crimes" the police seem to exist to punish in my town: failing to come to a dead stop at a stop sign. This is, obviously, not the same as running a stop sign. No one is in endangered. No one is hurt. No one even notices except police looking for another way to collect taxes. But the charge is the same, regardless: $138.
Beware of bubbles of false hope. Right now there is a lot of talk about how the U.S. economy is improving, but it is all a lie. The mainstream media can be very seductive. When you sit down to watch television your brain tends to go into a very relaxed mode. In such a state, it becomes easy to slip thoughts and ideas past your defenses. Sometimes when I am watching television I realize what the media is trying to do and yet I can still feel it happening to me. ... (more)
