Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

Essential Opinion – by Nat Perry

The great American tradition of bombing Iraq – now in its third decade – has recently been revived by the “hope and change” presidency of Barack Obama, the fourth consecutive U.S. Commander-in-Chief to launch strikes against the beleaguered Middle East nation. Iraq may be alone in the world in being able to claim such a dubious distinction.

I remember the first time the U.S. bombed Iraq, in January 1991. I was a sophomore in high school and Wilson Phillip’s “Hold On” was at the top of the charts. I didn’t really know what to think about it, but a lot of people were tying yellow ribbons to trees and wearing “Operation Desert Storm” t-shirts with bald eagles and American flags on them, so it seemed like a good idea. Plus, there was the whole babies-being-pulled-from-incubators story, which turned out to be a complete fabrication, but we didn’t know that at the time, so the war’s justification seemed pretty solid.   Continue reading “The U.S.’s Benevolent Bombing of Iraq and the Terror That It Spawns”

Deep.Dot.Web – by Nathan Wold

If you needed another reason to hate Comcast, the most hated company in America, they’ve just given it to you: they’ve declared war on Tor Browser.

Reports have surfaced (Via /r/darknetmarkets and another one submitted to us) that Comcast agents have contacted customers using Tor and instructed them to stop using the browser or risk termination of service. A Comcast agent named Jeremy allegedly called Tor an “illegal service.” The Comcast agent told its customer that such activity is against usage policies.   Continue reading “Comcast Declares War on Tor Users, Because Wanting Privacy Is Suspicious”

ABC News

The family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police in Utah is disputing investigators’ statements that he was shot after he lunged at officers with a sword and that race played no role in the shooting.

Randall Edwards, an attorney for the family of Darrien Hunt, said an independent autopsy requested by the family shows Hunt was shot “numerous times, all from the rear” in Saratoga Springs, about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City.   Continue reading “Man’s Family Disputes Police Version of Shooting”

CBS San Francisco

SAN MATEO (CBS SF) — The San Mateo and Napa County Sheriff’s offices will not be getting secondhand weapons and gear from federal agencies after assault rifles from both departments were discovered missing or unaccounted for.

According to a KQED report, the counties are among nine California law enforcement that have been suspended from the giveaway, known as The Department of Defense Excess Property Program (or 1033 Program).The California Office of Emergency Services operates the program in the state.   Continue reading “Missing Assault Rifles Lead Feds To End Surplus Weapons Giveaways To San Mateo, Napa County Sheriff’s Offices”

My San Antonio – by Kolten Parker

SAN ANTONIO – Eight 55-foot balloons with military-grade surveillance cameras are providing U.S. Border Patrol agents an eye in the sky along the Texas-Mexico border.

The blimp-like aerostats, which fly about 3,500 feet above the ground and are tethered to the ground, have 360-degree, infrared surveillance capability that can read a license plate from miles away, according to the Valley Morning Star.   Continue reading “Surveillance balloons help agents along Texas-Mexico border”

The Hill – by Julian Hattem

With a surveillance reform bill stuck in the Senate, the federal court overseeing spy agencies on Friday reauthorized the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of Americans’ phone records.

Reauthorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) allows the NSA to continue to warrantlessly collect “metadata” in bulk about people’s phone calls. The records contain information about which numbers people called, when and how long they talked, but not the actual content of their conversations.   Continue reading “Spy court renews NSA metadata program”

USA Today – by Kevin Johnson

Since 2009, according to city records, Albuquerque Police Department officers have been involved in 47 shootings, 32 of which resulted in deaths — a body count that Police Chief Gorden Eden said has called attention to a “systemic failure in our ability to track employee misconduct.”

Civil lawsuits have cost the city millions of dollars. More than that, a Justice Department review of at least 20 of those civilian killings concluded earlier this year that a “majority … were unconstitutional.”   Continue reading “Albuquerque Police Chief Says Dept is “Stuck” with Officers Who “Shouldn’t be on the Force””

Privacy SOS

Apparently the people responsible for arming our local police forces like small militaries have no idea what’s going on under their noses, and invent magical fairytales about how the vehicles and surveillance equipment their grant funds buy for police are actually used.

Yesterday the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held hearings about police militarization, a largely federally-funded problem. The fact that much of the equipment—weapons, trucks, and surveillance toys—landing in the hands of our local police comes from grants or gifts bestowed by the feds wasn’t lost on the senators in attendance. In the wake of Ferguson, most of the country knows about this problem.   Continue reading “Senate hearing on police militarization reveals DHS is completely out of touch with reality”

MassPrivateI

Continue reading “The CIA & America’s news media – A disturbing alliance”

Examiner – by Kimathi Lewis

A former Atlanta police officer was indicted Wednesday for allegedly beating a man so badly that the man suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung. And officials said the same officer was accused of another assault a year later.

Nicholas J. Dimauro was indicted for two counts of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and two counts of violation of oath by a police officer, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said in 2010 Robert Wormley was returning to his home on Woods Drive in Atlanta around 3 a.m. when he was approached by Officer Dimauro.   Continue reading “Former APD cop indicted for allegedly beating man so badly his lung collapsed”

AlterNet – by Steven Rosenfeld

The federal bureaucratic pipeline that has pumped billions in surplus military weapons and battle gear into thousands of police departments across America does not train cops to use them, does not track when the weaponry is used and does not screen police for history of civil rights abuses. It also does not want to decide whether it is even appropriate to be sending local police weapons as esoteric as rifle bayonettes and combat knives.

These were just some takeaways from a lengthy hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, where top officials from the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice described programs that funneled upwards of $50 billion in gear and grants in recent years to local police. The hearing is expected to prompt a major revamping of these programs, as almost every senator who spoke up, both Democrat and Republican, slammed militarized policing.   Continue reading “The Shocking Militarization of America’s Police Finally Catches the Interest of the US Senate”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

Maybe the time has come for Facebook to implement a [Not a Threat] tag to go with its new [Satire] tag. That way, precious law enforcement resources won’t be expended hunting down and arresting someone who really isn’t threatening anyone.

WFIE 14 News is reporting that 31-year-old James Evans of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky was arrested on terroristic threatening charges after he posted lyrics from a song by the heavy metal band Exodus on Facebook. On August 24, Evans posted the following quote from the song “Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)”, “Student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate. Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends [the] debate.” Shortly thereafter, he was taken into custody by authorities under the rationale that his posting constituted a threat “to kill students and or staff at school,” according to his arrest warrant.  

Continue reading “Heavy Metal Lyrics Posted To Facebook Result In Arrest For Terrorist Threats”

Occupy Corporatism – by Susan Posel

Both the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) have agreed upon liquidity rules that prohibit “debt issued by states and municipalities from being listed as high-quality assets that could sustain a bank through a 30-day squeeze.”

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) has yet to weigh in on the decision by the FRB and the OCC.   Continue reading “The Role Private Police Forces Will Play in the Next Economic Collapse”

Breitbart – by Merrill Hope

Truancy, it conjures up images of the 1930’s and Depression Era under-aged hooligans playing hooky in back alleys, but wait, truancy is alive and well and on the books in the freedom and liberty loving Lone Star state where the delinquency is still criminalized but really Texas, truant officers?

These days, most agree it is time decriminalize it. Some argue the current truancy law infringes on parental rights, others, on student rights.There are even those who believe it is just a cash cow that rakes in up to $500 per penalty. Regardless, many parents feel that truancy laws are redundant and overly punitive.   Continue reading “Really Texas, Truant Officers”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

Cab companies are still fighting Uber and Lyft, and each turf war seems to drag out the worst rhetorical devices and statements from these companies which have enjoyed long, monopolistic runs. Most have gone running to city legislators, hoping to add further regulatory hurdles to the upstart companies, asking for anything from limits on number of vehicles in service to rates considerably higher than cab companies charge.    Continue reading “New Orleans Cab Company Owner Calls Uber A ‘Cyber-Terrorist Group’”

MLive – by Molly Young

FLINT, MI — A retired Flint police sergeant is accused of using his position as a police officer to have sex with children while on duty.

Lawrence B. Woods, 66, was arraigned Friday morning in Flint’s District Court on 16 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from incidents that authorities claim occurred from 1996 until 1999 while Woods was a sergeant with the Flint Police Department.   Continue reading “Retired Flint police sergeant accused of sexually assaulting children while on duty”