FILE - In this March 16, 2011 file photo, inmate housing on New York's Rikers Island correctional facility can be seen on the other side of a fence topped with razor wire. The Independent Budget Office found it cost $167,731 in 2012 to house one of 12,287 daily New York City inmates, which is about $460-per-inmate-per-day. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)Mint Press News – by Jo Erickson

The private prison industry has become an increasingly lucrative business, as the companies running them seek to increase profits by cutting inmates’ food provisions while pressuring state governors to guarantee prisons remain 90 percent full at all times.

In recent years, for-profit prisons have grown in popularity. The number of private prisons has increased from five in 1998 to 100 by 2008. The biggest private prison owner in the U.S. is the Corrections Corporation of America. It has seen its profits increase by more than 500 percent in the past 20 years – and it’s not stopping there.   Continue reading “Private Prisons Pushing To Increase Profits”

Happy New Year: Get Set for These New Laws to Take Effect in 201440,000 new infringements.

The Blaze – by Becket Adams

As 2013 comes to a close, we turn our attention to 2014 and the nearly 40,000 new laws written by state legislatures set to take effect in the United States next year.

From regulations involving “lemon pets” to take-home placentas, 2014 looks like it will be an interesting year for new laws, several of which are poised to take effect on Jan. 1, as rounded up by the Daily Mail    Continue reading “Just Try and Guess How Many Laws Take Effect in 2014”

CNN – by Catherine E. Shoichet and Caleb Hellerman

They thought the tonsil surgery would help her. She feared she’d never wake up.

Now, a 13-year-old girl once known for smiling, giggling and dropping off her sister every day at kindergarten lies motionless in a California hospital bed, hooked up to machines that doctors say are the only thing keeping her heart beating.

There have been days of prayers and protests for Jahi McMath. There was a fierce court battle as a devastated family fought to keep her on life support and doctors argued she had already died. The case drew national attention and fueled debate.   Continue reading “Court blocks hospital from disconnecting Jahi McMath from life support”

Hot Air – by Jazz Shaw

What was on your Christmas wish list? Some books or DVDs or a shiny new vuvuzela? How about a nice 16 gauge over under shotgun? If you’re a resident of Colorado, you may have gotten that last item under your tree, as gun sales have seen a considerable uptick at the end of the year. Our Townhall colleague, Michael Schaus, takes a very humorous look at an extremely serious subject.   Continue reading “Colorado seeing record Christmas gun sales”

Fox News

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the Middle East in the first week of the new year amid a flurry of reports in the Israeli press that he has said he would consider freeing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

Israel’s Channel 10 TV station first reported Friday that Kerry offered to free Pollard as part of an exchange for the release of a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as peace talks resume between the two sides. The third of four groups is scheduled to be released Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported.   Continue reading “Kerry reportedly says he will consider freeing Jonathan Pollard as part of prisoner swap”

This is a BancorpSouth bank surveillance screen shot released by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety of a bank robbery Monday, Dec. 23, 2013 in Tupelo, Miss. Tupelo police officer Kevin “Gale” Stauffer, 38, was killed, and a 26-year-old officer was injured after they responded to the robbery. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation, which is now focused on a male suspect said to be about 5-feet-9 to 6-feet tall, thin, with light complexion, possibly African-American. He also might be heavily armed. (AP Photo/BancorpSouth via the Mississippi Department of Public Safety)The Mississippi Link

PHOENIX (AP) — A suspect killed by Phoenix police in a bank robbery attempt is believed to be the same man accused in the shooting death of a Mississippi police officer and the wounding of another, the FBI said Sunday.

The statement came hours after Phoenix police shot and killed a suspect after Saturday’s bank robbery attempt.   Continue reading “Man killed in Arizona bank robbery linked to shooting death of Tupelo police officer”

Fox News – by Adam Housley

Fifteen months after the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the narrative of the attack continues to be shaped, and reshaped, by politicians and the press.

But a New York Times report published over the weekend has angered sources who were on the ground that night. Those sources, who continue to face threats of losing their jobs, sharply challenged the Times’ findings that there was no involvement from Al Qaeda or any other international terror group and that an anti-Islam film played a role in inciting the initial wave of attacks.   Continue reading “‘Completely false’: Sources on ground in Benghazi challenge NYT report”

Fox News

A German magazine, citing internal documents, claims the NSA’s hacking unit uses James Bond-style spy gear to obtain data, including intercepting computer deliveries and outfitting them with espionage software.

Der Spiegel’s revelations relate to a division of the NSA known as Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, which is painted as an elite team of hackers specializing in stealing data from the toughest of targets.   Continue reading “German magazine claims NSA hacking unit uses powerful methods to obtain data”

Blacklisted News – by Lee Rogers

The full police investigation into the alleged Sandy Hook mass shooting has finally been released to the public.  The release contains thousands of documents including hours of video footage and numerous photographs pertaining to the investigation.  As expected the content is heavily redacted which alone raises more questions about the official story.  Perhaps even more interesting is the content that hasn’t been redacted which by itself provides more evidence suggesting that this so-called shooting incident is a complete and total fabrication.   Continue reading “Sandy Hook Police Report Contains No Evidence that Mass Shooting Took Place and Strengthens Notion that Event was a Fabricated Hoax”

Seeing green: Marvine Rosales-Martinez, 27, who found a winning scratch-off card while blowing leaves at his landscaping job last fall, was allowed to collect his $1million prize this weekDaily Mail – by SNEJANA FARBEROV

Who said money doesn’t grow on trees?

Marvine Rosales-Martinez, 27, who came upon a winning lottery ticket while blowing leaves at his landscaping job last fall, was finally allowed to collect his $1million prize this week.

Rosales-Martinez, of Hicksville, Long island, was among five lucky winners who were handed oversize checks by the New York Lottery officials Friday.      Continue reading “Lucky landscaper who found $1M lottery ticket while picking up leaves gets to KEEP the money”

Ted CruzThe Guardian – by Joanna Walters 

Senator Ted Cruz has said that he is taking steps to renounce his mysterious Canadian citizenship – in a move he insists does not in any way indicate a run for the White House in 2016.

The junior senator from Texas, who made a name for himself as a driving force behind efforts to bring down the Affordable Care Act by way of a government shutdown, was surprised to learn earlier this year – after some digging by one of his home state newspapers – that he reportedly enjoys dual citizenship.   Continue reading “Ted Cruz ‘taking steps’ to renounce Canadian citizenship”

russiabomb640.jpgFox News

For the second time in as many days, an explosion rocked the Russian city of Volgograd Monday morning. Russian officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up on a trolleybus, killing at least 14 people and wounding nearly 30 others. The latest attack came one day after at least 17 people died in a suicide bombing at the city’s central rail station.

The explosion ripped away much of the bus’s exterior and broke windows in nearby buildings. The BBC reported that the explosion took place near a market in the city’s Dzerzhinsky district. It virtually paralyzed public transport in the city, forcing many residents to walk long distances to get to work.   Continue reading “Russian city hit by suicide bombing for second straight day”

LAPD performing a drug checkpoint. (Source: NBC Los Angeles)Police State USA

LOS ANGELES, CA — As drivers prove their innocence at warrantless police checkpoints this New Year, they will not only be scrutinized over their potential consumption of alcohol.  A new technology will enable the police to detect and arrest drivers for having marijuana, narcotics, and “other drugs” in their bloodstreams.

The recently unveiled device is a portable saliva swab analyzer, capable of immediately sampling body fluids for the presence of foreign intoxicants.  The machines were paid for by grants from the state.   Continue reading “Police to take saliva & blood from drivers at New Year’s drug checkpoints”

Breitbart – by FRANCES MARTEL

Bill de Blasio’s tenure as mayor of New York City will officially begin on New Year’s Day, before the steps of City Hall, and with President Bill Clinton holding the Bible on which he will be sworn into office.

De Blasio’s transition team announced the presence of both Clinton’s at the ceremony on Saturday, with the former President presiding over the key inaugural act. “I was honored to serve in President Clinton’s administration and on Secretary Clinton’s campaign for U. S. Senate,” de Blasio said in a statement announcing their presence at the inaugural, “and I am honored again that they will both join our celebration for all of New York City.” He also tweeted out an old photo of his family with the Clintons expressing his gratitude for their presence. De Blasio will be using a Bible owned by another former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.   Continue reading “Bill Clinton will Swear in Bill De Blasio as NYC Mayor”

The Future of Freedom Foundation – by Sheldon Richman

The American people should know that pending right now in Congress is a bipartisan bill that would virtually commit the United States to go to war against Iran if Israel attacks the Islamic Republic. “The bill outsources any decision about resort to military action to the government of Israel,” Columbia University Iran expert Gary Sick wrote to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in protest, one of the bill’s principal sponsors.

The mind boggles at the thought that Congress would let a foreign government decide when America goes to war, so here is the language (PDF):   Continue reading “Congress Must Not Cede Its War Power to Israel”

Digital Journal – by Justin King

Activists from around the world will begin attempting to create a twitterstorm in opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Twitter tonight. The opposition is coming from activists on both the left and right wing of the political spectrum.

The twitterstorm operation is set to begin at 7PM Eastern and will attempt to make the hashtag #StopTheTPP trend on Twitter, in hopes of raising awareness of the secretive trade deal being brokered among a dozen nations. The nations involved are the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei Darussalam. The Office of the United States Trade Representative hosts a blanket statement about the trade deal on its website stating in part:   Continue reading “Opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership explodes on Twitter”

Educate Yourself – by Sheldon Richman 

S.1881 proposed bill wording

S.18 81 – Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013

The 26 Israeli Fifth Columnists sponsoring S.1881:

“The legislation was co-sponsored by twenty-six senators, including: Senators Kirk, Menendez, Schumer, Graham, Cardin, McCain, Casey, Rubio, Coons, Cornyn, Blumenthal, Ayotte, Begich, Corker, Pryor, Collins, Landrieu, Moran, Gillibrand, Roberts, Warner, Johanns, Hagan, Cruz, Donnelly, and Blunt.”   Continue reading “US Senate Zion Fifth Columnists Propose S.1881, “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013,” To Cede US War Power Decision Against Iran to Israel”