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Counterterrorism analysts want US mass transit security tightened in wake of plots | Fox News
Bend over, grab your ankles, turn your head and cough, and pee in the cup or we cannot let you on the bus… this is going to get frigging ridiculous, and real quickly.

via Fox News
Counter-terrorism experts have renewed calls to tighten security on America’s mass transit lines following two would-be terrorists’ foiled plot to blow up a Toronto passenger train.
The alleged plan to attack Canada’s transit system has shed light on the vulnerabilities that still exist in America’s commuter system and the challenges involved in keeping it safe for travelers.
“The millions of Americans who take public transportation need to be assured that everything possible is being done to ensure their security and safety,” American Public Transportation Association President and CEO Michael Melaniphy told FoxNews.com on Monday, adding that federal funding should be increased.
… “This country has to change its outlook on day-to-day life,” he said. “We can’t let out guard down.”
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NYT: Police Surveillance May Earn Money for City | Stop Making Sense
A unique public-private partnership that joined gut-level police acumen with advanced computer algorithms is proceeding toward two goals that rarely coincide: The policing system is making New York safer and it will also make money for the city, which is marketing it to other jurisdictions.
In the six months since the Domain Awareness System was unveiled, officials of Microsoft, which designed the system with the New York Police Department, said they have been surprised by the response and are actively negotiating with a number of prospective buyers, whom Microsoft declined to identify… Buyers would pay to access the software (at least several million dollars and more depending on the size of the jurisdiction and whether specifications have to be customized). New York City will receive 30 percent of the gross revenues from the sale of the system and access to any innovations developed for new customers. The revenue will be directed to counterterrorism and crime prevention programs.
The new system incorporates more than 3,500 cameras in public places, license-plate readers at every major Manhattan entry point, fixed and portable radiation detectors, real-time alerts transmitted from the 911 emergency system and a trove of Police Department data, including arrests and parking summonses.
via Police Surveillance May Earn Money for City ~ NY Times | Stop Making Sense.
NY Lawmaker to investigate mental-health based gun seizure under NY SAFE Act – updated 4/13/13 – 9AM
UPDATED 9AM, 4/13/13
State Assemblyman Ray Walter says when he saw the news coverage of David Lewis’ case, he knew immediately something was “seriously wrong.” Walter wants some answers, when he meets face-to-face with the State Police Superintendent in Albany next Tuesday.
…Lewis was forced to turn in his seven handguns and stripped of his pistol permit. After State Police in Albany identified him – instead of a different David Lewis in another county – as being too mentally ill to own them…
“What’s supposed to happen, according to the NY SAFE Act, is this: When a mental health professional deems someone a threat to himself or others, she reports that to her supervisor.
Definition of ‘mental health professional’ ?
Definition of ‘threat’ ?
The supervisor notifies the county health commissioner, who sends only non-clinical information – such as the person’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number – to State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
They are supposed to check that information against their records. If the person has a gun permit, police get back in touch with the county.
Walter said, “The County Clerk then has no discretion, and must either revoke or suspend the pistol permit for the individual that been notified of. There’s no gray area... via Lawmaker to investigate gun seizure | WIVB.com.
Continuing on this disturbing story, this was posted at Pakalert Press (click here for full post there) Read more…
Feds Identify 300,000 Americans as Terrorists | Activist Post
Do you hate paying taxes? Are you fighting foreclosure? Do you feel like no one should be allowed to commit violence against you and don’t always blindly follow the commands of the authorities? Do you film encounters with police or believe gold makes better currency than Federal Reserve Notes? Well you might be part of a domestic terrorism movement and not even know it.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Times posted an article attempting to define a domestic terrorist movement consisting of as many as 300,000 Americans. Some are even labeled as non-violent “paper terrorists”.
Is there a more Orwellian term than “non-violent terrorist”? If you can think of one please share it in the comments below. They refer to this so-called terror group as “sovereigns, zealots who refuse to recognize government authority in virtually any form.”
When attempting to further define and identify individuals in this movement, some very broad and dangerous stereotypes appear. “Sovereigns believe U.S. currency has no value but recognize precious metals as valid currency,” wrote the LA Times, much like the US Constitution does.
“A central tenet of the sovereigns movement is that its adherents believe they owe no income taxes,” also much like the Constitution forbids. What’s more, federal and state law enforcement are being trained that anyone who disobeys their commands falls into this terrorist movement and may pose a violent threat to them.
“Sovereign citizens are more likely not to obey their commands and more likely to commit violence during a traffic stop,” said Detective Rob Finch who’s made a cottage industry of anti-sovereigns police training. “They refuse to recognize your authority, and that creates a dangerous situation,” Finch emphasized.
Even nonviolent sovereigns can cause headaches through what Finch calls “paper terrorism.” Some squat in foreclosed homes and file phony deeds claiming ownership, “paying” with photos of silver dollars.
Who knew fighting foreclosure was a form of terrorism? Paying taxes and mortgages with hand-written notes and photos is just funny, not really a threat to anyone.
However, self-described “sovereign citizen” James Turner faces ”a potential maximum prison term of 164 years, a maximum potential fine of $2,350,000, and mandatory restitution” to the state for the nonviolent act of paper terrorism.
A blog for law officers, PoliceOne.com, also tries to help cops identify sovereign citizens, saying they’ll “...likely to be argumentative with police authorities…may attempt to videotape your encounter…may refuse to give you their name or documents…”
To his credit, the article’s author states that the “…Sovereign Citizen movement is not an organized civil or criminal enterprise. It’s a fractured series of loosely affiliated individuals who adhere to anti-government ideologies.”
It should be noted that the Feds and local law enforcement all received these characteristics and tactics from one original source: The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC has been on a publicly-funded partisan crusade to demonize so-called right-wing or patriotic extremists.
In 2010, SPLC put together a short documentary about “sovereign citizens” and the threat they supposedly pose. To help identify potential sovereigns, they warn about certain bumper stickers and challenges to authority in a professionally produced propaganda video. Significantly, the video below has three times as many down-votes on YouTube as up-votes. Watch it below:
Fusion center director: We don’t spy on Americans, just anti-government Americans | RT
…In trying to clear up the ‘misconceptions’ about the conduct of fusion centers, Arkansas State Fusion Center Director Richard Davis simply confirmed Americans’ fears: the center does in fact spy on Americans – but only on those who are suspected to be ‘anti-government’…” via RT USA…
“Ominous Threats” and Murderous Zeal | Pro Libertate
“There are, in increasingly frightening numbers, cells of angry men in the United States preparing for combat,” warns an unusually strident house editorial by the Los Angeles Times. “They are usually heavily armed, blinded by an intractable hatred, often motivated by religious zeal…”
Nova | Ol’ Remus & The Woodpile Report
When you step back and look at the big picture, it really makes one wonder—how big of a piano needs to be dropped on people’s heads before they notice what’s happening? Simon Black at sovereignman.com
Stars shine for billions of years, fusing one element into another, hydrogen into helium, carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, until one day fusion into iron begins. There, quietly, at the heart of the star, it’s doom is sealed. Fusion into iron generates no net heat, in fact, it’s a heat sink. There comes those last few seconds when equilibrium is lost, the star can’t support its own weight, the outer shells collapse inward at nearly the speed of light and the star is torn apart in a spectacular cataclysm. When gravity wins, it wins all at once. So it shall be with us.
There are those among us who want what they don’t need and need what they don’t want. Tolerance for this has metamorphosized into entitlement, which for the beneficiary mimics success, and so the core of career consumers has grown large enough to make its own weather and exert its own gravity. Debt on this scale would eventually overwhelm any economy, no matter how robust. Enough is never enough, even if it were a wide-open spigot plumbed to any conceivable source of supply. Fantasies about debt can keep it going for a while, but in the real world no debt has ever gone unpaid, if not by the borrower then by the lender. In the end, historic debt has historic consequences.
The hard road ahead will likely be comparable in its scope and impacts to the harrowing times brought by America’s first three rounds of anacyclosis. To live through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or the Great Depression was not an easy thing; those of my readers who are curious about what might be ahead could probably do worse than to read a good history of one or more of those. John Greer at resilience.org
Bitcoin and Kim Dotcom: Why it’s Time to “Encrypt Everything” | libertyblitzkrieg.com
Encryption may end up being the biggest trend in 2013, as the concept, usage and term itself move from the realm of computer geeks and hackers into mainstream consciousness. The reason why such a moment must occur relates to the fact that governments and intelligence agencies the world over are rapidly moving in the direction of spying on their citizenry twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Those of us that don’t like this privacy invasion will have to move toward encrypting as much of our daily lives as possible. Read more…
TSA screeners miss bomb at Newark Int’l Airport. Fondling of children and old ladies continues apace.
Separation | Ol’ Remus & The Woodpile Report for 2/26/13
DC has always been distant from the people. Apart from the IRS and the draft, they were “the other” we read about in the papers, running gangsters and spies to ground, getting the interstate built, fighting wars and generally looking out for the Little Guy. We believed they were the Big Picture People doing things on the largest scale on behalf of all who worked hard, lived responsibly and stayed right with the law. DC was the captain and crew of our mighty ship, alert and sure, cutting cleanly through heavy seas and turgid morass alike, while their grateful passengers shuddered at the hardship and horrors beyond the delights of the endless buffet on the promenade deck. Read more…
They Want To Tag Us Before They Bag Us | Dave Hodges
If President Obama, John McCain (R., AZ), Lindsey Graham (R., SC), Marco Rubio (R., FL), Lindsey Graham (R., SC.), Charles Schumer (D., NY.), Jeff Flake (R., AZ.), Michael Bennet (D., CO.), and implicated child molester Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), get their way, it will soon be law that if you want to board an airplane, to vote, to purchase a firearm, hold a job and basically buy and sell anything, then you will be required to submit to a National ID Card which will soon become part of a global ID system.
In effect, the proposed national and soon-to-be global ID card will serve as a permission slip to do all of the ordinary things that you presently have the right to do as an ordinary American citizen. Of course, if you are the president, or one of these senatorial traitors and your intention is to eliminate U.S. sovereignty by requiring American citizens to become a part of a global identification system, then this is a requisite step in this treasonous give away of our country. Of course, the good senators are not calling this a national ID because that has been tried, opposed and rejected back in 2008. These senators are cloaking their treason under the guise that the implementation of this universal ID system is an immigration issue.
The Immigration Trojan Horse. The National ID and soon to be Global ID system is being sold to the rank and file of Congress as a means to control terrorism and to further prevent illegal immigration. Showing ID’s to board a plane on 9/11 did not prevent the destruction of the Twin Towers now did it? And we have drones and satellites which can read the inscription on a dime from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and we can’t identify and stop foreign nationals from crossing our borders? Our government does want to stop illegal immigration. And now we are being asked to swallow the myth that only an ID can prevent illegal immigration. Only a member of Congress who is more focused on becoming enriched at their insider-trading potential would be distracted enough to fall for this ridiculous excuse. And when one considers that a bi-partisan group of congressman are trying to simultaneously create a path to citizenship for all illegal alien residents, this justification of requiring a national ID to solve the immigration issues of this country is based wholly on deception. Read more…
Supreme Court Maintains Spotty Civil-Liberties Record | Reason.com
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions regarding police powers were mixed, thus offering a reminder to civil libertarians that they cannot depend upon the high court to protect the public from unwarranted government intrusions.
“The U.S. Supreme Court handed police one victory and one loss on Tuesday,” reported National Public Radio. “In one decision, the justices limited the power of police to detain people who are away from their homes when police conduct a search. And in a second case, the justices ruled that drug-sniffing dogs don’t have to get every sniff right in order for a search to be valid.” Read more…
DIY Drone-Proofing: Militants Use Carpet, Grass Mats, Mud to Hide From Robots | Danger Room
What’s the simplest way to evade a $4.5 million armed, flying robot? Get some grass mats. Or smear your car with mud.
After hundreds of strikes over four drone-intensive years, al-Qaida is starting to pass around notes on cheap countermeasures militants can take to evade detection by the robots’ sensors. The longer the militants can delay the CIA or the U.S. military from obtaining a positive identification, the thinking goes, the less likely a strike becomes. Step one: Disguise your car. Read more…
Big Brother to monitor ‘sovereign citizens’ | WND
Orwell hit this one on the head…
So if you had any doubt that NDAA, CISPA, DHS, drones, warrant-less searches, TSA, the Newtown-circus and citizen disarmament etc. were a prelude to your preemptive criminalization, consider yourself disabused of that comforting notion.
Make no mistake about it you tinfoil hat wearing, gun toting, Bible clinging, knuckle dragging anachronisms: YOU ARE the the threat. YOU are the enemy. YOU must be handled, managed, silenced, marginalized and entrapped.
The state fears nothing so much as an awakened, empowered and angry citizenry and so you sheep are not allowed off the farm. Punishment will be severe.
So, what are you going to do? I think that the time for calls and letters to Congressmen, candlelight vigils, writing op-eds and cordial, thought provoking discourse to the uninformed has long been over: That stuff is pointless. The time is here to get ready for the long pull, the dark struggle, the end game.
I say it is time to disappear, opt out and go Galt. I say the ‘laws’ and Government are now so illegal, so immoral that the only ethical course of action is to withdraw from that context. In other words, I quit. I am forming and fostering a new society of the like minded. If that makes me a “sovereign man” to you Mr. FBI person, so be it. And fuck you. I’ll be out here working for the good, and working against you if needed.
Good luck on getting me back in the corral.
G.E.
With almost no media coverage, the White House last week announced its new Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence that will target not only Islamic terrorists but so-called violent “sovereign citizens.” Read more…
I don’t answer to the state | Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant: A portion of his argument before the Alberta (Canada) Human Rights Commission regarding biased prosecution and selective enforcement of his free speech rights. Classic and brilliant. Here is is his YouTube channel with more parts of the testimony. Here is a wiki write up on Levant. (H/T Jericho777)
The Worry About Google | RFNJ
…The real threat is that Google, or perhaps just a few people within the leadership of Google, may be quietly operating as a private intelligence agency for the left…
This Dog Can Send You to Jail | Reason.com
“… He asked me would I mind if he searched my vehicle, and I said, ‘Well, yes, I would mind if you searched my vehicle.’ ”
But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the deputy did not have to take no for an answer. In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court declared that “the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog…during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests.” So the deputy was free to walk his dog around Burns’ truck. “He got out with this dog and went around the car, two or three times,” Burns says. “He came back and said the dog had ‘passively alerted’ on my vehicle.” via This Dog Can Send You to Jail – Reason.com.
Here’s how to avoid “consensual” police encounters | Slate
The crux of avoiding a consensual encounter is noncooperation—refusal to answer questions and to consent to police requests. As noted above, this requires a fair degree of self-confidence and a willingness to flout the conventions of common discourse which, of course, this is not. Nevertheless, it is the sine qua non of consensual encounter avoidance. “Can we see your driver’s license?” “No!” “What are you doing here?” “I am not answering,” or less politely, “None of your business.”
Saying “no” once may not be enough. Some courts have held that continued badgering after a first refusal causes the encounter to cross the line to a seizure, but others have permitted repeated questioning and requests for consent to search without concluding that a seizure had taken place. A reasonable person would thus be well-advised to say “no” repeatedly, and to reject any attempt by the officer to accompany her if she tries to leave. Some courts have found it significant that the refusals were delivered in a shout or scream, or that the individual ran from police in an attempt to get away. The cases thus not only encourage flatly rebuffing the officer’s inquiries, but also encourage doing so in the rudest, most confrontational, and most obnoxious manner.
via Stop-and-frisk Florida: Here’s how to avoid “consensual” police encounters..
Journalist Jason Mattera Accosted by Security over Mayor Bloomberg Gun Control Question | Breitbart
Jason Mattera, bless his soul, offers Bloomie some soda and asks whether he would consider gun control for his own staff of armed guards. Hilarious and sickening at the same time.
One can only wonder if the Bloomberg School of Gun Fear at Johns Hopkins University will be doing a study on the psycho-social trauma of dealing with that narcissistic, lilliputian pukes armed henchmen. Just makes one wanna barf…
EXCLUSIVE: Journalist Accosted by Security over Mayor Bloomberg Gun Control Question
via Breitbart
Invasion of the Body Searchers: The Loss of Bodily Integrity in an Emerging Police State | John W. Whitehead
And they seriously expect you to give up your gun rights under this social contract? I.e.:
If you want a recipe for disaster, take police officers hyped up on their own authority and the power of the badge, throw in a few court rulings suggesting that security takes precedence over individual rights, set it against a backdrop of endless wars and militarized law enforcement, and then add to the mix a populace distracted by entertainment, out of touch with the workings of their government, and more inclined to let a few sorry souls suffer injustice than to challenge the status quo… Read more…
Fascist America and Forming a New Conservative Party | USA WethePeople
…Our nation has entered into the last stages of fascism. Both parties have supported this path since Hoover and FDR of the 1930s, both parties are guilty. The only way to avoid a repeat of Germany 1933-45 is to go all out to defeat fascism here in America by any means necessary.
That means renouncing the programs that transfer power to the federal government such as social security, Medicare, education, transportation, and banking regulations, everything that allows centralized planning needs to be opposed. This means conservatives have to stop giving capitalism lip service and embrace the free enterprise system.
We need to understand government produces nothing; they can only create poverty, death, and destruction…. Read more…
Your Cellphone Is Spying on You: How the surveillance state co-opted personal technology | Reason.com
…There are 331 million cellphone subscriptions—about 20 million more than there are residents—in the United States. Nearly 90 percent of adult Americans carry at least one phone. The phones communicate via a nationwide network of nearly 300,000 cell towers and 600,000 micro sites, which perform the same function as towers. When they are turned on, they ping these nodes once every seven seconds or so, registering their locations, usually within a radius of 150 feet. By 2018 new Federal Communications Commission regulations will require that cellphone location information be even more precise: within 50 feet. Newer cellphones also are equipped with GPS technology, which uses satellites to locate the user more precisely than tower signals can. Cellphone companies retain location data for at least a year. AT&T has information going all the way back to 2008. Read more…
Duty | Ol’ Remus & The Woodpile Report
We lost the republic long ago. Within Remus’s lifetime, loyal constitutionalist patriots have gone from the majority to a tolerated minority to a designated hate group and now, presumed terrorists. Meanwhile, the collectivists—the Democrat Republican Progressive establishment—are openly consolidating their power, strutting on the national stage like Mussolini in front of a mirror, their witless minions shouting down deviations from DC’s two party one-party line.
DC has taken on the classic structure of totalitarianism: feuding official fiefdoms with fuzzy and overlapping authorities, all burrowing into the formerly private lives of the populace, legal cover provided by a Byzantine tangle of laws and impenetrable codes, a form of lawlessness in itself, as it’s meant to be. In this pervasive fog and fear they needn’t be lawful other than by their own calculations. Read more…
DHS-FBI Suspicious Activity Reporting Bulletin: Acquisition of Expertise | Public Intelligence
Meanwhile, back at the Constitutionally-protected Land of the Free and Home of the Brave…
…The following activities can indicate efforts to acquire expertise for potentially illicit purposes. Depending upon the context of the situation–reason for seeking the information, personal behaviors, and other indicators–suspicious inquiries should be reported to the appropriate authorities.
- (U//FOUO) Inquiries by individuals with no apparent need for technical or scientific knowledge that may lead to exploitation of vulnerabilities.
- (U//FOUO) Possession of blue prints, architectural diagrams, and facility information by individuals with no demonstrated need for the information
- (U//FOUO) Extensive research on a subject, such as explosive-making methodologies and guidance, which would arouse suspicion in a reasonable person.
- (U//FOUO) Seeking weapons training and conducting paramilitary exercises, particularly by individuals who are unwilling to provide an explanation for acquiring combat skills… via Public Intelligence.
John Knefel: 10 Outrageous Tactics the Police Are Using and getting Away With | Alternet
Talk to someone who has never dealt with the cops about police behaving badly, and he or she will inevitably say, “But they can’t do that! Can they?” The question of what the cops can or can’t do is natural enough for someone who never deals with cops, especially if their inexperience is due to class and/or race privilege. But a public defender would describe that question as naïve. In short, the cops can do almost anything they want, and often the most maddening tactics are actually completely legal. Read more…
When You’re Falsely Accused of a Gun Crime – 12 Things You Need to Know | Ammoland.com
Until you’re accused of a crime, you may be blissfully ignorant of the fact that “innocent until proven guilty” is a myth. In reality, it’s the opposite. Michelle Gesse, whose husband lived the nightmare of being falsely accused of a firearms related felony, explains what all Americans need to know now about the criminal justice system.
The scary part of this story is how easily it could happen to any one of us. Steven and Michelle Gesse thought that the small dinner party they hosted on the night of April 5, 2009, would be just that: an informal, pleasant gathering of neighbors over good food and good wine…
Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans’ text messages | CNET News
“…State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years — in case they’re needed for future criminal investigations... “
via CNET News.
Doug Casey: The US Is Now The United (Police) State Of America | ZeroHedge
…the US Constitution was essentially a coup; the delegates to what we now call the Constitutional Convention were not empowered to replace the existing government – only to improve upon the Articles of Confederation between the then-independent states. The framers of the Constitution drafted it with the notion of a national government already in place, but calmed fears of loss of state sovereignty by calling the new government the “United States of America” – a verbal sleight of hand that worked for over half a century. Then the southern states decided to exercise what these words imply, their right to leave the union… and as the government becomes more powerful, it’s completely predictable that everything – including the justice system – will become ever more politicized… As great as a US citizen’s risk is in the marketplace these days, the greatest single risk to their wealth and health is the government... via ZeroHedge
The Growth of Homeland Security’s Domestic Intelligence Enterprise | Public Intelligence
The Department of Homeland Security’s production of domestic intelligence has increased substantially over the last few years according to a brochure of “intelligence products” published last month by Cryptome. The 2012 DHS Intelligence Enterprise Product Line Brochure is “a standardized catalogue of intelligence reports and products that represent the full breadth” of the agency’s analytical capabilities. It provides descriptions of each type of product created by the DHS Intelligence Enterprise as well as the classification level and instructions on how DHS “customers” can obtain the products. Read more…
DHS Hides Records of Failed $1 Bil System from Congress | Judicial Watch
In an apparent effort to cover up a potential scandal, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has for months refused to provide congressional leaders with records related to a failed program that was quietly nixed after the agency blew $1 billion on it.
The faulty “life-saving” technology, known as BioWatch, was supposed to detect biological attacks. However, it’s never come close to meeting its goal of accurately detecting pathogens that cause anthrax, tularemia, smallpox, plague and other deadly diseases. Instead it is well known for false alarms and other glitches. In short, it’s turned out to be a worthless money pit for U.S. taxpayers… via Judicial Watch.
FBI creating terrorism plots to scare Americans | Activist Post
Last Wednesday, a 21-year-old Bangladeshi national, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, was arrested and accused of traveling to the U.S. to establish an al Qaeda cell and bomb the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan.Buried beneath the headlines and opening paragraphs of the major news outlet reports, however, is the fact that Nafis would have been unable to execute his plot without substantial assistance from the F.B.I.. Authorities assured several news agencies that “the public was never in danger.”
This case is yet another instance, among hundreds, of federal agencies creating terrorist plots so they can take credit for stopping them, instill fear in Americans and justify the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on wars and “homeland security.” This practice earned the number four rank on the list of the 2012 Project Censored most underreported stories in the U.S. media…
via Activist Post: FBI creating terrorism plots to scare Americans.
Project censored top 10: The expanding police state tops the annual list of stories underreported by the mainstream media | Boulder Weekly
Project censored: The expanding police state tops the annual list of stories under-reported by the mainstream media, By Yael Chanoff – Thursday, October 11,2012
People who get their information exclusively from mainstream media sources may be surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on the left for President Barack Obama in this crucial election. But that’s probably because they weren’t exposed to the full online furor sparked by Obama’s continuation of his predecessor’s overreaching approach to national security, such as signing the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the indefinite detention of those accused of supporting terrorism, even U.S. citizens.
We’ll never know how this year’s election would be different if the corporate media adequately covered the NDAA’s indefinite detention clause and many other recent attacks on civil liberties. What we can do is spread the word and support independent media sources that do cover these stories. That’s where Project Censored comes in. Read more…
Governments and internet firms are wrestling with the rules for free speech online
Internet freedom
Free to choose
Governments and internet firms are wrestling with the rules for free speech online
Oct 6th 2012 | from the print edition The EconomistTHE arrest of a senior executive rarely brings helpful headlines. But when Brazilian authorities briefly detained Google’s country boss on September 26th—for refusing to remove videos from its YouTube subsidiary that appeared to breach electoral laws—they helped the firm repair its image as a defender of free speech.
19 Signs That America Is Being Systematically Transformed Into A Giant Surveillance Grid | The American Dream
You are being watched. The control freaks that hold power in the United States have become absolutely obsessed with surveillance. They are constantly attempting to convince the American people that we are all “safer” when virtually everything that we do is watched, monitored, tracked and recorded. Our country is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid far more comprehensive than anything George Orwell ever dreamed of… via American Dream
Senate Panel: Homeland Security Data Centers Mainly Terrorize Citizens | DailyTech
Report finds that while the centers may lead to civil liberties violations, they don’t do much to catch terrorists
In a new 146-page report released by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, a bipartisan panel of senators calls into question the U.S. Department of Homeland Security‘s (DHS) claims that so-called “Fusion” data centers have successfully been employed to stop terrorists. Read more…
ACLU: Warrantless electronic surveillance surges under Obama | Digital Journal
US Totalitarianism Loses Major Battle As Judge Permanently Blocks NDAA’s Military Detention Provision | ZeroHedge
Back in January, Pulitzer winning journalist Chris Hedges sued President Obama and the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, specifically challenging the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force or, the provision that authorizes military detention for people deemed to have “substantially supported” al Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces.” Hedges called the president’s action allowing indefinite detention, which was signed into law with little opposition from either party “unforgivable, unconstitutional and exceedingly dangerous.” He attacked point blank the civil rights farce that is the never-ending “war on terror” conducted by both parties, targeting whom exactly is unclear, but certainly attaining ever more intense retaliation from foreigners such as the furious attacks against the US consulates in Egypt and Libya. Read more…
Progress | Ol’ Remus & The Woodpile Report
Many reasons have been given for the fall of the Roman Empire—greed and decadence, Christianity or the want of it, a decline in industriousness, lack of new territory to plunder, internal wars and over-reliance on the military and so forth. These are “civic virtue” arguments. More objectively, Tainter says the total cost of maintaining the empire exceeded the total return from the empire. The notion appears to confuse cause and effect if you squint and look at it just so. An automobile will eventually cost more in maintenance than the worth of its service justifies, but the deterioration itself isn’t due to the cost of maintenance. An asset has a trajectory apart from our mitigations of its effects. Read more…
























