In These Times – by Tara Tabassi

Last week, the Florida SWAT Association hosted the “35th Annual SWAT Round-Up International Competition and Vendor Trade Show” in Orlando. The event brought together law enforcement and military personnel from around the world to compete against each other, train in new tactics and technologies, and buy new weapons from arms dealers. At a time when Florida residents are acutely aware of the need for climate disaster and emergency preparedness, this use of resources to further escalate policing tactics is not only wasteful, but demonstrates the increasingly dangerous power of defense industry “solutions.”   Continue reading “How SWAT Team Expos Are Militarizing Police Departments Across the Country”

New York Times

The pharmaceutical industry was listed as one of the “Contributors to the Current Crisis” in the final report of President Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. The report cites decades of aggressive marketing and industry-sponsored physician “conferences” aimed at expanding opioid use by minimizing the dangers of addiction. Lawsuits by state attorneys general, counties and local jurisdictions allege that the industry fostered the epidemic by overpromoting its products, while raking in billions as Americans became addicted and overdosed. “To this day,” the commission says, “the opioid pharmaceutical industry influences the nation’s response to the crisis.”

Continue reading “The Insanity of Taxpayer-Funded Addiction”

Buzz Feed –  by Adolfo Flores

A document obtained by BuzzFeed News shows the US Department of Homeland Security used secretive cell phone–tracking devices nationwide more than 1,800 times from 2013 to 2017.

The information, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that Homeland Security Investigations, a major investigative arm of DHS, used what’s known as cell-site simulator over-the-air technology 1,885 times from Jan. 1, 2013, to Oct. 11, 2017 throughout the US.
Continue reading “DHS Has Used A Controversial Cell Phone–Tracking Device More Than 1,800 Times”

Truth Theory – by  Gavin Nascimento

For more than a decade now, I’ve researched public relations, psychology, anthropology and mind control almost daily. And when you do this, you begin to see the world very differently.   Continue reading “This Is What Advertising Would Look Like If Corporations Actually Told The Truth”

MassPrivateI

A recent Washington Times article, boasts that Texas law enforcement used predictive DNA imaging or ‘Phenotyping’ to guess what a suspect’s physical characteristics might be.

This is not a joke, this is actually happening in police departments across the country.

Parabon Nanolabs, claims their new analysis service can accurately predict what a suspect or victim looks like based on a sample of their DNA.   Continue reading “Police are using DNA mugshots to arrest innocent people”

Record Online

MIDDLETOWN – The New York State Public Service Commission on Thursday approved Orange & Rockland’s plan to install smart electric meters and gas modules for every O&R electric service and gas customer in Orange and Sullivan counties beginning in 2018.

There are about 60 million wireless smart meters being used across the nation. O&R plans to install approximately 230,000 electric smart meters in its New York service area. It will install the communications infrastructure in Orange and Sullivan counties beginning in January 2018, while the new meters will go in during March.   Continue reading “NY Residents Forced To Install 230K Smart Meters”

Billings Gazette – by Arno Rosenfeld

New so-called “vice taxes” on cigarettes and alcohol have been one of the few popular taxes among Wyomingites. A poll last year found that 81 percent favored raising taxes on alcohol and 78 percent favored raising them on cigarettes.

Now, the Legislature’s Interim Joint Revenue Committee is moving forward on both proposals. While the committee’s consideration of a $1 per pack increase on cigarettes drew more attention and discussion at its meeting in Cheyenne earlier this month, the panel also advanced proposals to raise three separate alcohol taxes:

Continue reading “‘Drinking is a luxury’: Lawmakers could up Wyoming booze taxes”

Chicago Tribune

An appeals court ruled a Kane County sergeant improperly prolonged a traffic stop from which authorities seized a car and more than $8,000 cash, and now the driver and passengers are suing the county and officers involved in federal court.

The officer who initiated the stop once described asset forfeiture as “a tax-liberating gold mine” that allows the government to “pull in expendable cash hand over fist,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court. The officer, a sergeant, also works for Desert Snow, a private company that trains officers in police stops and asset forfeiture, according to the lawsuit. The Kane County sheriff’s office is among agencies that have paid Desert Snow for training.   Continue reading “Lawsuit: Kane sergeant called asset forfeiture ‘tax-liberating gold mine’”

EFF – by Aaron Mackey and Sophia Cope

A federal appeals court has issued an alarming ruling that significantly erodes the Constitution’s protections for anonymous speakers—and simultaneously hands law enforcement a near unlimited power to unmask them.

The Ninth Circuit’s decision in  U.S. v. Glassdoor, Inc. is a significant setback for the First Amendment. The ability to speak anonymously online without fear of being identified is essential because it allows people to express controversial or unpopular views. Strong legal protections for anonymous speakers are needed so that they are not harassed, ridiculed, or silenced merely for expressing their opinions.   Continue reading “Appeals Court’s Disturbing Ruling Jeopardizes Protections for Anonymous Speakers”

The News Tribune – by Walker Orenstein

The Mason County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on Monday declined to press charges against two Shelton police officers who repeatedly struck, pepper sprayed and used a stun gun on a man who had been sleeping on a staircase behind a homeless shelter in May.

The decision runs counter to advice from Thurston County Sheriff’s Office investigators, who in July recommended assault charges after concluding the use of force that left 25-year-old Nicholas Heflin with a broken nose, eye injuries and broken bones in his face “was not necessary or reasonable.”   Continue reading “Two Shelton officers fired, but won’t face criminal charges after beating homeless man”

Intellihub – by Shepard Ambellas

LAS VEGAS (INTELLIHUB) — The Nevada Homeland Security Commission planned a mock terror drill over one year prior to the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival massacre after a 2016 “Channel 8 Eyewitness News” investigation uncovered flaws in the Las Vegas Valley emergency trauma system, reveals a Sept. 7 report.

According to the report, the “three-day test” took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center between the dates of Sept. 11-13 where participants mocked up an emergency triage area.   Continue reading “Nevada Homeland Security planned mock terror drill for one year, ahead of Oct. 1 massacre”

Tenth Amendment Center – by TJ Martinell

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 13, 2017) – A so-called  “Constitutional Carry” bill prefiled in the Kentucky House of Representatives would make it legal for most Kentuckians to carry a firearm without a license, and foster an environment hostile to federal gun control.

Rep.  C. Wesley Morgan (R-Richmond) pre-filed BR172 in August. The legislation would allow persons 21 or older, and not otherwise prohibited by other laws, to carry concealed weapons without a license. Individuals would be allowed to carry concealed without a permit anyplace license holders can currently carry. Kentucky law stipulates a number of places where it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon including hospitals, police stations, courthouses, government meetings and areas primarily dedicated to selling alcoholic beverages for consumption. These restrictions would remain in place under the proposed law.   Continue reading “Permission Not Required: “Constitutional Carry” Bill Introduced in Kentucky House”

MassPrivateI

And so it begins, my worst fears have been realized.

Militarized US police have begun patrolling indoor and outdoor events.

Yesterday, an article in CBS New York warned that the NYPD plans to have commando equipped police or their Strategic Response Group (SRG) patrolling indoor and outdoor events.   Continue reading “NYPD deploys commando equipped police at indoor and outdoor venues”

The Conversation – by Margot Susca

Considering the history of television news a few years ago, iconic anchor Ted Koppel declared that CBS’ 1968 debut of “60 Minutes” forever altered the landscape of broadcast journalism: A news program drew enough advertising to turn a profit. As Koppel told it, “60 Minutes” showed broadcasters that news divisions could make money – which was a huge shift in how management executives thought of news, affecting both the quality and type of coverage broadcast over the publicly owned airwaves.

Until then, broadcast news in the U.S. had been a costly requirement media companies had to bear as part of getting permission to use the airwaves. “All of a sudden, making money became part of what we did,” Koppel told the audience of a “Frontline” series called “News War.”   Continue reading “Here’s why your local TV news is about to get even worse”

Yahoo News

Washington (AFP) – Police in the US state of Delaware are poised to deploy “smart” cameras in cruisers to help authorities detect a vehicle carrying a fugitive, missing child or straying senior.

The video feeds will be analyzed using artificial intelligence to identify vehicles by license plate or other features and “give an extra set of eyes” to officers on patrol, says David Hinojosa of Coban Technologies, the company providing the equipment.   Continue reading “Privacy fears over artificial intelligence as crimestopper”

SHTF Plan – by Alex Thomas

In what many saw coming a mile away in the aftermath of both the Las Vegas Massacre and the Texas Church mass shooting, liberals in the government, with the help of their mainstream media allies, are now pushing what amounts to plans for gun confiscation, outside of normal law, for Americans across the country.

The new push for gun control from the left comes courtesy of ABC News which recently published a piece promoting the use of an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) that many believe is nothing more than a thinly veiled confiscation plan that would allow a judge to “issue an ex parte order” for the direct confiscation of an American citizens firearms.   Continue reading “Mainstream Media Now Promoting “Gun Confiscation Orders” As Solution To Mass Shootings”

AlterNet – by Steven Rosenfeld

While Democrats on Wednesday were feeling encouraged and empowered by Tuesday’s coast-to-coast rejection of Trumpism, Republican legislators who control Wisconsin did what the GOP does best in elections: voted to rig the system to favor their agenda. Only this time the target wasn’t voter suppression; it was the U.S. Constitution.

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Legislature voted to call for what’s known as an Article V constitutional convention, becoming the 28th state to do so in recent years. Thirty-four states are needed, according to the nation’s founding document, to launch a process that would open up the foundation of American’s rights and laws to revision.   Continue reading “We Are Now One State Closer to Having a Corporate-Dominated Constitutional Convention”