Year: 2015

The Daily Beast – by Shane Harris

President Obama and his top national security officials spent the past few days warning that once intelligence-gathering authorities in the Patriot Act expired just after midnight Sunday, the United States would face a greater risk of a terrorist attack.

That argument is highly debatable—at least, in the short term. Not only does the U.S. government have all sorts of other ways to collect the same kind of intelligence outlined in the Patriot Act, but there’s also a little-noticed back door in the act that allows U.S. spy agencies to gather information in pretty much the same ways they did before.   Continue reading “Zombie Patriot Act Will Keep U.S. Spying—Even if the Original Dies”

Daily Kos – by Shawn King

On July 31, 2013, Jermaine McBean, a 33-year-old computer engineer with no criminal record, paid $100 for a camouflage BB gun at his local pawn shop. As he walked to his home with his headphones on, listening to music, he was shot and killed by police in Oakland Park, Florida. Police claimed that he ignored their requests to put down his weapon and then aimed the gun, which was empty, at them in an aggressive manner.

Now, nearly two year later, it turns out the police told multiple lies in attempt to cover up their killing of McBean. Below we will expose each of the lies they told.

Continue reading “Florida police murder computer engineer as he listens to music; attempted cover-up exposed”

Continue reading “Supplemental To Waco Biker Story”

Sharyl Attkisson

Recent Rise in Vaccine Victims’ Court Decisions and Concessions Not Reflected in Revised Government Chart

In March, the federal government removed the latest vaccine injury court statistics—more than a year’s worth of data—from one of its publicly reported charts. It was an abrupt departure from the normal practice of updating the figures monthly.   Continue reading “Government Wipes Recent Vaccine Injury Data from Website”

RT

Oklahoma’s Republican governor recently signed a bill that stops local lawmakers from banning hydraulic fracturing or other oil and gas drilling operations.

Governor Mary Fallin said the legislation affirms the three-person Oklahoma Corporation Commission as the primary regulator of oil and gas drilling, adding the agency allows for “reasonable” restrictions regarding setback, noise, traffic issues and fencing. She said the bill was needed to prevent a patchwork of municipal regulations across the state.   Continue reading “Oklahoma lawmakers officially prohibit local fracking bans”

Mail.com

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Despite a fatal lion attack the previous day, business ran pretty much as usual on Tuesday at the Lion Park north of Johannesburg, and visitors were driving through with all their windows rolled up.

An American woman — still unidentified — was killed by a lioness Monday when the animal attacked her through a car window. The car’s windows were open, contrary to park rules, park management said. Scott Simpson, assistant operations manager at the Lion Park, said Tuesday that it is “operating as usual” except the area where the attack occurred has been closed off. At the entrance, tour guides and private operators shepherded dozens of visitors into the park, driving minibus taxis and safari vans covered in wire mesh.   Continue reading “Business as usual at SAfrican lion park after fatal attack”

Mail.com

JIANLI, China (AP) — Divers on Tuesday pulled three people alive from inside a capsized cruise ship and searched for other survivors, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy with well over 400 people still missing on the Yangtze River.

The tally of those brought to safety stood at 15 and at least five people were confirmed dead after the ship capsized during a storm Monday night with 458 people aboard, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The cruise was from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing, and many of those aboard were elderly.   Continue reading “Survivors pulled from China boat capsizing; hundreds missing”

Off the Grid News – by Daniel Jennings

Not mowing the lawn regularly, having a missing shingle, and even failing to put curtains or screens on windows can lead to thousands of dollars in fines in some communities – and even jail if fines aren’t paid.

Pagedale, Missouri, residents Valarie and Vincent Blount face $1,810 in fines for such offenses as having peeling paint, having an overgrown tree and also not recycling, The St. Louis Post-Dispatchreported. Other residents have been fined for having barbecue pits and toys in the front yard, for having basketball hoops in the street, for not making their children wear bicycle helmets, and for walking in the street.   Continue reading “Get Jailed For Toys In Yard, Missing Shingles In This American Town”

Jon Rappoport

“Break down an event into fine enough particles, and you begin to see new things. You see the event is staged, of course, but you also find new key players, and they’re sometimes the ones you least expect to have an influence. When I say ‘influence’, I mean mind control, projected out like a great wave, rumbling over the populace, taking them to media heaven.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

This article is an example of what you can do when you watch a single television broadcast over and over, a dozen times, and analyze the effects blow by blow.   Continue reading “Media mind-control: case study: Arnold Schwarzenegger”

RT

While companies are pushing for the passage of the US Freedom Act, ordinary people don’t have any rights or civil liberties protection in cyberspace – something that is desperately needed, says Sascha Meinrath, director and co-founder of Thexlab.org.

RT: As we know, the US Senate failed to vote for an extension of certain provisions of the Patriot Act. However some are joking that although the Patriot Act has expired, the NSA still has Facebook. Are social networks really that susceptible to snooping?   Continue reading “Encrypted email: ‘Indicator for NSA to collect that information’”

Target Liberty

As I have reported, Rand Paul, on Sunday in Senate floor comments during his blockage of the bill that would allow NSA bulk data collection to go on, called for an increase in the number of FBI agents by 1,000.

According to the latest data from the FBI, there are currently 13,455 FBI special agents. Thus, Rand is calling for an increase in the number of agents by 7.4%.

For those who have been cheering on Rand’s so-called battle against Big Government, this is a stunning move by the Senator. It will be very difficult for true libertarians to defend. And, as I have said, it strongly suggests that Rand has no true libertarian instincts.   Continue reading “On Rand Paul’s Call to Increase the Number of FBI Agents by 7.4%”

Fox News

The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.

The planes’ surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge’s approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.    Continue reading “FBI flying surveillance aircraft over US cities; planes traced to fake companies”

ABC News – by MIKE LEVINE and AARON KATERSKY

A Boston police officer has shot and killed a man who had been under surveillance by the FBI‘s Joint Terrorism Task Force, ABC News has learned.

An officer and an FBI agent approached the suspect at about 7 a.m. today in the parking lot of a CVS in Roslindale, Massachusetts, police said. The suspect pulled a “military-style knife,” prompting the officer to use lethal force, according to police.   Continue reading “Boston Police Officer Shoots and Kills Possible Terror Suspect”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

Yesterday morning, prior to the Senate debate that has resulted in the (brief) expiration of a few provisions in the PATRIOT Act, CIA director John Brennan went on one of those Sunday morning talk shows and made a complete fool of himself, pretending that merely debating things like the 4th Amendment was helping the terrorists. It started off with a claim that various bad people are “watching carefully” what happens, as if anyone honestly believes that terrorists are looking at last night’s vote and thinking, “Oh boy, now we can plan a new bombing campaign by calling America again!”   Continue reading “CIA Boss Claims That Merely Debating Surveillance Is Helping The Terrorists”

The Week

In a statement released Tuesday, WikiLeaks announced that it is offering a crowd-sourced $100,000 reward for the “missing chapters” of President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

A video posted to WikiLeaks’ YouTube channel features top Democrats speaking out against the trade deal. According to its opponents, the deal would offer incentives for big businesses, while harming American workers.   Continue reading “WikiLeaks is crowd-sourcing $100,000 for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal”

WhoWhatWhy – by Ralph Lopez

Obscured by Jon Stewart’s well-publicized mockery of Texans’ reaction to Jade Helm 15—the US Army’s two-month-long exercise across nine states scheduled to begin in July—is the fact that the criticisms may not all be deranged droolings.

The Daily Show‘s Stewart made headlines earlier in May when he ridiculed Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision ordering the State Guard to “monitor” Jade Helm. The comedian-cum-newsman called Jade Helm critics “Lone Star lunatics.” But are they? Or is there more to the story? As always, WhoWhatWhy has remained agnostic while asking questions. Now, we provide a few initial answers. More will undoubtedly come.   Continue reading “Does Jade Helm Violate Posse Comitatus?”

WFAA

Whataburger announced Sunday that it will temporarily trim its breakfast hours due to a national egg shortage.

It’s a potentially earth-shattering decision for late-night and early-morning fast food lovers (read: college students) who are used to getting their breakfast food fix from 11 p.m. – 11 a.m.   Continue reading “Whataburger trims breakfast hours due to egg shortage”

Militia News – by Doug Hagmann

Most Americans obviously don’t know their history for if we did, we would be much more outraged and disturbed about the Jade Helm 15 military operation. Why? Because we’ve seen eerily similar situations play out in our nation before. In fact, this situation was a precursor to the first American Revolution.   Continue reading “Setting the Stage for the Second American Revolution”