'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S.
In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically.
Pakistani President Won't Tell USA Where Nukes Kept
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said his country isn’t adding to its nuclear arsenal and doesn’t have to disclose the location of its weapons to the U.S.
South Florida cop caught on video kneeing submissive suspect
According to the witness:
“He looked around. He looked up and obviously thought no one was looking, then he just grabbed the kid. I saw his hands were behind. He was already in a submissive position. And he just got down and just kneed him, probably two or three times,” said the witness, who did not want to be identified.
Florida police use motorised paragliders
Officers in the town of Palm Bay are being sent aloft on motorised paragliders to act as spies in the sky, in a first-of-its-kind mission codenamed Operation Soar.
UN’s Ban Ki Moon comes to the defence of Israel
A United Nations inquiry concluded that Israel’s military forces carried out direct and intentional strikes on its premises during the assault on Gaza earlier this year. Israel was therefore responsible for the deaths and injuries of UN personnel and civilians, as well as extensive damage to its property.
Concerns white phosphorus used in Afghan battle
Doctors voiced concern over "unusual" burns on Afghan villagers wounded in an already controversial U.S.-Taliban battle, and the country's top human rights groups said Sunday it is investigating the possibility white phosphorus was used.
Last SLA inmate released from California prison
The last captured member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical 1970s-era group notorious for bank robberies, killings and the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, was released from prison Sunday, a corrections official said.
Frank Rich: Eternal vigilance needed to stop DOD propaganda
An old Pentagon report, previously used to defend a questionable Bush administration PR practice, has been rescinded. Rachel Maddow is joined by Frank Rich, New York Times columnist and author of the book The Greatest Story Ever Sold.
Science agency to review FBI's anthrax inquiry
The National Academy of Sciences said Friday it will review the lab work behind the FBI's conclusion that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was responsible for the anthrax mailings that killed five people in 2001.
Karzai in move to share power with warlord wanted by US
ONE of Afghanistan’s most wanted terrorists is to be offered a power-sharing deal by the government of President Hamid Karzai as the country’s warlords extend their grip on power.
1.2m Pakistanis on the move
THE military has ordered all civilians out of the Swat Valley as Pakistan braces for a protracted "guerilla war" between a conventional army and Taliban militants skilled in counter-insurgency.
Iran Turning to China for Air Defense System
Tehran will now turn to China for the HongQi-9/FD-2000 system which reportedly combines elements “borrowed” from the Russian S-300 and the American MIM-104 Patriot system, according to the Iranian news agency.
The masterpiece that killed George Orwell
Probably the definitive novel of the 20th century, a story that remains eternally fresh and contemporary, and whose terms such as "Big Brother", "doublethink" and "newspeak" have become part of everyday currency, Nineteen Eighty-Four has been translated into more than 65 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, giving George Orwell a unique place in world literature.
Russia warns foes in Soviet-style show of might
Russia on Saturday sternly warned its foes not to dare attempt any aggression against the country, as it put on a Soviet-style show of military might in Red Square including nuclear capable missiles.
Court upholds GPS tracking by police
Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
Memos shed light on CIA use of sleep deprivation
Though widely perceived as more effective and less objectionable than other interrogation methods, memos show it's harsher and more controversial than most realize. And it could be brought back.
Flashback - Hersh: Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape
Hersh gave a speech last week to the ACLU making the charge that children were sodomized in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon has tape of it. The speech was first reported in a New York Sun story last week, which was in turn posted on Jim Romenesko's media blog
G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds'
An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds.
Third U.S. Swine Flu Death Reported
An unidentified man in his 30s from Snohomish County in Washington state is the third person in the United States to die from swine flu, state health officials said late Saturday.
Moving toward Drug Legalization
By Jacob G. Hornberger
Since the drug warriors no longer have any legitimate intellectual arguments to sustain their position, what are the biggest obstacles we face to bringing about an end to the drug war? Money and power. There are lots of people making money off the drug war, and they are rich, powerful, and influential.
Swine flu toll tops 50
The death toll from swine flu topped 50 on Saturday as Costa Rica reported its first fatality from the virus and Japan and Norway joined a growing list of nations with confirmed cases.
NATO war games hinder U.S.-Russia ties: Putin
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said NATO military exercises in Georgia did not help efforts to rebuild Moscow's relations with the United States in comments published on Sunday.
Sir Allen Stanford may have been a US government informer
Secret documents seen by Panorama show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers.
CENSUS WORKERS NOW ENGAGING IN UNLAWFUL ACTIVITY?
The U.S. Census Bureau has been overstepping the U.S. Constitution’s requirements for a simple enumeration of the citizens for years, but their current plans to mark the GPS location of every address in the U.S. is just the latest in a long list of usurpations of the General Government’s Constitutional authority.
Hackers Obtain 160,000 Records from University
Personal records for approximately 160,000 students and alumni at the University of California at Berkeley were accessed by hackers between October 2008 and April 2009, the school announced Friday.
The hackers attacked the school's health services center, gaining access to peoples' Social Security numbers, health insurance information, and non-treatment medical information like immunization records and doctors' names.
Afghan students protest against civilian casualties
Chanting "Death to America!" and weeping as they prayed, hundreds of Kabul university students marched on Sunday in protest against U.S. air strikes last week that Afghan officials say killed more than 100 civilians.
'No talks until Mumbai plotters booked'
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday the peace process with neighbouring Pakistan would remain on hold unless it prosecuted those behind last year’s attacks on Mumbai, AFP reports. Pakistan and India began a slow-moving peace process in February 2004 but it came to a halt after New Delhi blamed the November attacks, in which 166 people were killed, on the Pakistan-based militant organisation Lashkar-i-Taiba.
FBI agent slams review of Lockerbie conviction
THE Scottish legal body which cast doubt on the safety of the Lockerbie bomber's conviction has been condemned for carrying out a "woefully inadequate" investigation by the American FBI agent in charge of the case.
The Report from Iron Mountain” Revisited
By Richard C. Cook
What impresses me in the current financial crisis is the near-total failure of so-called progressives to appreciate the magnitude of what is going on or the level of intelligence behind it. How many will say, for instance, that the crash was deliberately engineered by the creation then destruction of the investment bubbles of the last decade?
Short Sales: Banks Blocking Way Out Of Foreclosure Crisis
Miller points his finger at securitization. Once the mortgages are bundled and sliced up into different pieces, known as tranches, the owners of the pieces get paid back according to a certain pecking order. Senior investors get paid back first and if there's a loss, the most junior investors won't get anything. It's those investors who are blocking short sales.
"The people with the least senior tranches have no reason to agree to the modification because they take a complete loss and the people in the most senior tranches don't lose anything. So they've managed to structure their mortgages in a way that makes it almost impossible to modify or sell short," said Miller.
Toyota suffers biggest loss in 72 years
The manufacturer, which has plants in 27 countries and regions around the world, revealed a net loss of 437bn yen (£3bn) for the financial year ending 2009. Last year the company generated a net income of 1.72 trillion yen.
Germany moves to outlaw paintball
The German government says it plans to ban combat games such as paintball, in response to a recent school shooting.
The new measures being proposed to parliament also include tighter gun control rules and give officials the right to conduct checks on gun owners.
Obama move on abortion funds riles both sides
President Obama called for overturning a decade-old ban on publicly funded abortions in the District as part of his budget proposal Thursday, but did not overturn the national ban on federal funding, thus angering advocacy groups on both sides of the volatile issue.
Texas rape victims billed (Video)
Texas rape victims suffer more indignation when they receive delinquent bills from hospitals for their own rape kits.
High School 1957 vs. 2009
Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1957 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2009 – School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Spying on anti-war protestors: US Army Concept of Operations for Police Intelligence Operations
The document presents a 60 page For Official Use Only intelligence manual from the US Army's Military Police School. Among other matters, the document reveals that the US Army is using structuring tricks to work around intelligence oversight rules that would normally prevent domestic spying and hoarding of data on anti-war protesters
Flashback - The Pentagon's New Spies
The military has built a vast domestic-intelligence network to fight terrorism -- but it's using it to track students, grandmothers and others protesting the war
Sorensen, of course, is the best known presidential speechwriter of the 20th century, if only on the strength of “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
But I was reminded by reading Sorensen’s engaging new autobiography this week that the speechwriter also became one of President John F. Kennedy’s closest national security advisers in the wake of the CIA’s disastrous invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.
“Long after the operation’s failure,” Sorensen writes, “secret minutes emerged of a November 15, 1960, CIA meeting — prior to briefing the new president-elect — in which the CIA’s own reviewers concluded that the invasion was ‘unachievable — [with no] internal unrest earlier believed possible — nor will [Castro’s] defense permit the type [of] strike planned,’ the minutes said.”
Of course, CIA bosses were telling Kennedy the invasion was a slam-dunk.
Patent for killer chip denied in Germany
A Saudi inventor's proposal to insert semiconductors subcutaneously in visitors and remotely kill them if they misbehave will not be patented in Germany.
Newspaper: Cartel leader threatens deadly force on U.S. police
The reputed head of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel is threatening a more aggressive stance against competitors and law enforcement north of the border, instructing associates to use deadly force, if needed, to protect increasingly contested trafficking operations, authorities said.
A giant US military base emerges in Afghanistan
In the forbidding Afghan desert, US engineers are carving out a sprawling military camp as part of a dramatic American troop build-up designed to confront Taliban insurgents.
"The Greatest Boondoggle in History": Banks Buoyed at Taxpayers' Expense
The PPIP is the "greatest boondoggle in the history of the world," says Black, a former bank regulator who was counsel to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board during the S&L crisis. As occurred during the S&L era, Black says the PPIP will allow banks to exchange "trash for cash" and turn "real losses into faulty gains."
If the goal of Tim Geithner and other regulators was "to rip off the American taxpayer for the benefit of the least-deserving wealthiest people you can imagine, well - mission accomplished," Black says.
More Acorn Voter Fraud Comes to Light
Democrats are split on how to deal with Acorn, the liberal "community organizing" group that deployed thousands of get-out-the-vote workers last election. State and city Democratic officials -- who've been contending with its many scandals -- are moving against it. Washington Democrats are still sweeping Acorn abuses under a rug.
Venezuela's Chavez seizes oil service companies
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent troops to seize oil service companies on Friday, tightening his grip on the oil industry as low crude prices pinch the OPEC nation's finances.
Beware of Obamanomics
By Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
In 1920–21, the United States faced a grave economic crisis, worse than the first year of the Great Depression. Double-digit unemployment and a 21 percent decline in production over the previous twelve months greeted the new president.
Don’t Be Fooled by Inflation
By Peter Schiff
Strike up the band, boys, happy days are here again! Recently released short-term economic data, including unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, home sales, and business spending, which had been so unambiguously horrific in February and March, are now just garden-variety awful. With the Wicked Witch of Depression now apparently crushed under the house of Obamanomics, the Munchkins of Wall Street have sounded the all clear, pushing the Dow Jones up 25% from its lows. But the premature conclusion of their Lollipop Guild economists, that the crash of 2008/2009 is now a fading memory, is just as delusional as their failure to see it coming in the first place.
Rebranding the Long War, Part 2
By Pepe Escobar
It's a classic case of calm before the storm. The AfPak chapter of Obama's brand new OCO ("Overseas Contingency Operations"), formerly GWOT ("global war on terror") does not imply only a surge in the Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). A surge in Balochistan as well may be virtually inevitable.
Air Marshals’ Secret Communication Weapon
If you’re a U.S. Air Marshal patrolling the friendly skies, you’ll want to communicate discreetly with fellow on-board marshals, airport ground crew, cockpit crew and flight attendants if you need to thwart an attack.
Zuma sworn in as S Africa leader
Jacob Zuma, leader of the African National Congress, has been sworn in as South Africa's new president.
It's snowing all over the world
Sooner or later, even our loathsome media are going to put two and two together. Then, those idiot politicians who have embraced the global warming scam are going to look even more stupid than they do already. The reckoning may be delayed, but it will come.
Obama Readies Troops as Afghans Pile Up Body Parts
As rage spreads in Afghanistan after US bombing that killed up to 130 people, unnamed Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up. Defiant Obama moves ahead with troop increase.
Obama budget sees eight pct foreign aid boost
US President Barack Obama's new budget calls for 36.7 billion dollars in foreign aid, an eight percent increase, stressing the importance of international development, officials said Friday.
Next step? No guns allowed for right-wing 'extremists'
A new gun law being considered in Congress, if aligned with Department of Homeland Security memos labeling everyday Americans as potential "threats," could potentially deny firearms to pro-lifers, gun-rights advocates, tax protesters, animal rights activists, and a host of others – any already on the expansive DHS watch list for potential "extremism."
Indian RAW funded Swat terrorists:$650 million to destabilize Pakistan
India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.” Obama Set to Revive Military Commissions
The Obama administration is preparing to revive the system of military commissions established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under new rules that would offer terrorism suspects greater legal protections, government officials said.
Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003
A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.
Obama wants Fed to be finance supercop
The White House told industry officials on Friday that it is leaning toward recommending that the Federal Reserve become the supercop for "too big to fail" companies capable of causing another financial meltdown.
Foreign Military Air Force Now Stationed In U.S.
The world outside Idaho got a little bit smaller Wednesday, as four F-15SG fighter jets flown from St. Louis by the Royal Singapore Air Force landed between rainstorms at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
Greeted by a cheering crowd of more than 100 military personnel from both Singapore and the U.S., the four jets are the first of as many as 10 that will call the airbase home for at least the next 20 years.
More On The SHAM "Stress Test"
After I posted my Ticker on this subject the Fannie report came out and immediately proved up what I had said - the tests are a sham.
Mystery group in the driving seat
If the Finance Minister really wants to know the depth of this "global economic firestorm", all he has to do is to ask the people who created it.
Why the Government's Attempt to Instill False Confidence Will Backfire
The government is doing its best to try to "restore confidence" in the economy. Indeed, Obama's top economics advisors believe they can fool people into believing that everything is fine, and then the economy will recover.
Westsound Bank of Bremerton, Wash., seized, sold
The state announced its seizure of Westsound Bank on Friday evening, citing "severe asset problems, significant losses and inadequate capital."
In Battle With Fed, Banks Won
The FT says that behind closed doors, the government has assured banks they will be allowed to raise less than mandated by the stress tests “if earnings over the next six months outstrip regulators’ forecasts.”
US states mulling Google book-scan pact
A group of US state attorneys general recently held a conference call to discuss Google's $125m digital book settlement with the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.
Police may use water cannon to control violent demonstrations
Scotland Yard is to review its policing of violent demonstrations after the G20 protests to see if London needs harsher, European-style methods that could include the use of water cannon.
Official who OK'd Air Force One jet flyover resigns
President Obama has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office responsible for the controversial low-altitude flyover of New York by a 747 plane used as Air Force One, the White House said Friday.
Police goof in raid
Police raid the wrong house in Baltimore. Weeks later, the guy still can’t get the city to repair his door. Their explanation is that because the address written on the warrant is the address the police raided, there was no mistake. Even though the guy they were actually after lived and was eventually arrested two doors down. The guy stored his old door in his backyard, hoping the city would eventually repair it. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, he called the city’s special trash pick-up to come and get it. They never did. But a city code inspector did come, and fined the guy $50 for having a broken door in his backyard.
Man Detained for Displaying “Don’t Tread on Me” Bumper Sticker
Our friends at The Patriot Depot just received a call from Rosemarie in Ball, Louisiana alerting Patriot Depot that her brother-in-law was stopped by small town Louisiana police and detained by the roadside for half an hour. A background check was conducted to determine whether he was a member of an "extremist" group. Why? Her brother-in-law (name not disclosed for privacy) had purchased and displayed a conservative "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker on his car.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: ANNALS OF THOUGHTCRIME
By Paul Greenberg
It's back: the criminalization of thought.
This time the same old bad idea has been all decked out in the latest newspeak. It's now the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, aka HR 1913.
Everyday is Doomsday in Washington
By Tom Engelhardt
A front-page New York Times headline last week put the matter politely indeed: "In Pakistan, U.S. Courts Leader of Opposition." And nobody thought it was strange at all.
Obama's Health Care Quackery
True to the advice of his chief of staff to never let a good crisis go waste, President Barack Obama is using the current economic crisis to sell a top item on the liberal wish-list: universal health care. "You can't fix the economy," he has repeatedly said, "without fixing health care."
UN Treaties Fail to Respect American Sovereignty and the Constitution
By By Dana Gabriel
Much of the United Nations philosophy manifested through its charter and numerous organizations, as well as international treaties, fails to respect American sovereignty. In many cases, it runs contrary to the Constitution. Incrementally, the UN is gaining more power. The recent swine flu pandemic scare demonstrates the influence that it has over American domestic policy.
Free cars for poor fuel road rage
Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.
Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas
The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.
Indicted ex-Vernon official gets $500,000 annual pension
Bruce Malkenhorst Sr. is accused of embezzling public funds from the city. He once was the highest-paid city official in California; now he gets the largest pension from CalPERS.
Brokerage insurance firm ailing
Until recently, the little-known Securities Investor Protection Corp. was flying high, confident its $1.7 billion fund was more than enough to insure investors against brokerage failures and fraud for years to come.
EU calls for shorter work week to create jobs
EU leaders on Thursday called for a shorter working week and extra state-funded retraining programmes as recession threatens millions of jobs.
More than one million flee Pakistan fighting, says UN
The United Nations has said that more than a million people have fled fighting in northern Pakistan as the government struggles to deal with an exodus of refugees.
Federal Reserve Inspector General knows nothing about the Fed
Rep. Alan Grayson asks the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman responds that the IG does not know and is not tracking where this money is.
Afghans riot over air-strike atrocity
Shouting "Death to America" and "Death to the Government", thousands of Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147 civilians.
Afghanistan war costs to top Iraq by 2010
The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will overtake that of the Iraq conflict for the first time in 2010, Pentagon budget documents showed.
Fed Sees Up to $599 Billion in Bank Losses
The federal government projected that 19 of the nation's biggest banks could suffer losses of up to $599 billion through the end of next year if the economy performs worse than expected and ordered 10 of them to raise a combined $74.6 billion in capital to cushion themselves.
Green Shoots or Greatest Depression?
The financial fields replete with sprouting “green shoots” should be viewed with suspicion, if not alarm, warns Gerald Celente, The Trends Research Institute Director. “They are not a mirage, but they are ephemeral.”
Field Marshall Ben Bernanke and his Green Shoot Brigade have fertilized the economic landscape with trillions of sweat equity dollars extorted from today’s public and the public of generations to come. Regardless of how depleted the land, heavy doses of dollars spread so thickly over the financial and government territories, will force “green shoots” to grow. But the fundamentals of the economy remain unsound. They will not be corrected by forced fertilizing barren acreage.
Pentagon’s Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion
The Pentagon wants to spend just over $50 billion on classified programs next year, newly-released Defense Department budget documents reveal. “That’s the largest-ever sum,” according to Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman, a longtime black-budget seer — a three percent increase over last year’s total.
