Author: Admin

AlterNet – by Alex Henderson

In a democratic republic, the “innocent until proven guilty” concept is supposed to be sacrosanct. Jurors, police officers, judges and prosecuting attorneys—at least in theory—are required to err on the side of caution, and if a guilty person occasionally goes free, so be it. But with the war on drugs, the concept of innocent until proven guilty has fallen by the wayside on countless occasions. The war on drugs is not only fought aggressively, it is fought carelessly and haphazardly, and a long list of innocent victims have been killed or maimed in the process.   Continue reading “10 Shocking Examples of Police Killing Innocent People in the “War on Drugs””

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

The EFF finally gets to step away from one of its many legal battles with the government with its hands held aloft in victory and clutching a long-hidden FISA court opinion.

For over a year, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court’s opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated “the spirit of” federal law.   Continue reading “Declassified FISA Court Opinion Shows NSA Lied Repeatedly To The Court As Well”

My Fox Orlando

Authorities say a sinkhole has apparently swallowed a small lake in Ocala.

Woodland Villages Association property manager Wes Herren told the Ocala Star-Banner that something appeared wrong with the lake on Tuesday afternoon.

By 4:30 p.m., Herren says his phone was bombarded with calls from residents saying the lake was “essentially gone.”   Continue reading “Sinkhole empties small lake in Ocala”

Syrian Arab News Agency

Damascus, (SANA) – An official spokesman at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said that the cooperation agreement between Syria and the international committee for investigating the use of weapons of mass destruction in some areas in Syria didn’t please the terrorists and the countries supporting them, which is why they came up with new false allegations that the Armed Forces used toxic gas in Damascus Countryside.   Continue reading “Foreign Ministry: Allegations of armed forces using toxic gas in Damascus countryside untrue”

Beta Beat – by Molly Mulshine

The federal government is perfecting software that will be able to pick suspects out of a crowd through facial recognition, and while we’re sure it’ll prove itself very useful for finding terrorists, it’s kind of horrifying all the same–especially since they might make it available for use by your neighborhood police.

The crowd-scanning project is called the Biometric Optical Surveillance System, the New York Times reports, and will be known as BOSS, because if there’s one thing our government loves more than chipping away at our privacy, it’s hyper-masculine acronyms.   Continue reading “Government Perfects Crowd-Scanning Facial Recognition Tech for Use by Your Local Cops”

USA Today – by Jon Swartz

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg late Tuesday announced on his Facebook profile page the formation of a partnership with Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Qualcomm and others to make Internet access available to everyone on Earth.

The group — Internet.org — intends to make the Internet an option for the 5 billion people who don’t have it. Only about one-third of the world’s population – 2.7 billion – has Internet access.   Continue reading “Zuckerberg unveils plan for Internet access for all”

Vida Latina

Mexico City, Aug 19 (EFE). — More than 100 women in the southern Mexican town of Xaltianguis have taken up arms to protect their community from organized crime groups, a local selfdefense force official said Monday.

The women signed up over the past four days with the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State, or UPOEG, Xaltianguis community self defense force commander Miguel Angel Jimenez told reporters.   Continue reading “Over 100 women take up arms in Mexico to defend community”

RT News

Reports by “biased regional media” about alleged chemical weapons use near Damascus might be “a provocation planned in advance,” says Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich.

“It draws attention to the fact that biased regional media have immediately, as if on command, begun an aggressive information attack, laying all the responsibility on the government,” Lukashevich said in a statement on Wednesday.    Continue reading “Russia suggests Syria ‘chemical attack’ carried out by rebels, provocation not ruled out”

Reuters – by Ian Simpson

Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier convicted of the biggest breach of classified data in the nation’s history by providing files to Wikileaks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday.

Judge Colonel Denise Lind, who last month convicted Manning of 20 charges including espionage and theft, could have sentenced him to as many as 90 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 60 years.   Continue reading “U.S. soldier Manning gets 35-year prison sentence”

Seacoast Online

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a quarter of this year’s high school graduates who took the ACT tests have the reading, math, English and science skills they need to succeed in college or a career, according to data the testing company released Wednesday.   Continue reading “ACT: Only 25% of high school graduates ready for all college subjects”

The News American – by William F. Jasper

Flying largely under the radar, the first round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) took off July 8 through 12 in Washington, D.C. Although most Americans have barely heard of TTIP — if they’ve heard of it at all — this plan for economic and political merger of the United States and the European Union will assume ever greater urgency over the next year as the negotiation process concludes and we move closer and closer to a vote in Congress.   Continue reading “EU/U.S. — Transatlantic Convergence”

Buzz Feed – by Steve Freiss

WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association has rallied gun-owners — and raised tens of millions of dollars — campaigning against the threat of a national database of firearms or their owners.

But in fact, the sort of vast, secret database the NRA often warns of already exists, despite having been assembled largely without the knowledge or consent of gun owners. It is housed in the Virginia offices of the NRA itself. The country’s largest privately held database of current, former, and prospective gun owners is one of the powerful lobby’s secret weapons, expanding its influence well beyond its estimated 3 million members and bolstering its political supremacy.   Continue reading “How The NRA Built A Massive Secret Database Of Gun Owners”

By: Wim Grommen (with Lorimer Wilson)

Beware: The Dow 30’s Performance is Being Manipulated!

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Index – the oldest stock exchange in the U.S. and most influential in the world – consists of 30 companies and has an extremely interesting and distressing history regarding its beginnings, transformation and structural development which has all the trappings of what is commonly referred to as pyramid or Ponzi scheme.   Continue reading “The Dow 30 is the Greatest of All Ponzi Schemes”

Business Insider – by PAMELA ENGEL

There are reports of a gunman at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in DeKalb County, Georgia, according to WSBTV.

It doesn’t appear there are any injuries. Whether or not shots were actually fired is in dispute, but students were evacuated from the school upon reports of a gunman, according to Fox 5 in Atlanta.   Continue reading “REPORT: Gunman At Georgia School”

AlterNet – by Dave Johnson

RT News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims Ankara has proof Israel was behind the July 3 military “coup” that toppled Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Turkish media report.

Erdogan said the West was beginning to redefine democracy as a process that is not solely determined at the ballot box, although the poll represents “the people’s will.”      Continue reading “‘Israel behind Egypt coup’ – Turkish PM”

The American Dream – by Michael Snyder

Instead of making sure that U.S. employers are not hiring illegal immigrants, the Obama administration has actually signed a secret deal with Mexico to protect “the rights” of illegal immigrants in the workplace.  According to this “memorandum of understanding”, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will spend U.S. taxpayer dollars to educate illegal immigrants about their civil rights, workplace safety, and minimum wage laws.  This is yet another example of how the Obama administration is openly flouting the law and doing all that it can to promote even more illegal immigration.  We are rapidly becoming a lawless nation that has absolutely no regard for the rule of law, and it all starts with the horrendous example that is being set at the very top.   Continue reading “Obama Administration Makes Secret Deal With Mexico To Help Illegal Immigrants In The Workplace”

NPR – by DOREEN MCCALLISTER

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in the 2016 election.

To run for president, the Constitution says a candidate must be a “natural born” U.S. citizen.   Continue reading “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz To Renounce Canadian Citizenship”