CenturyLink – by Sadie Gurman

DENVER (AP) — A college student eats more than the recommended dose of a marijuana-laced cookie and jumps to his death from a hotel balcony. A husband with no history of violence is accused of shooting his wife in the head, possibly after eating pot-infused candy.

The two recent deaths have stoked concerns about Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry and the effects of the drug, especially since cookies, candy and other pot edibles can be exponentially more potent than a joint.   Continue reading “Colorado deaths stoke worries about pot edibles”

AFP Photo / Getty Images / Erik S. LesserRT News

US politicians and members of their staff have admitted fears that, if Israel enters a specialized program that would admit more Israelis into the US, Israeli espionage against the US would increase, according to a new report.

The US Visa Waiver Program currently includes 38 nations whose citizens are allowed to visit the US and stay inside the country for 90 days without earning prior approval for a visa from a US consulate. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other longtime US allies are on the list, although American lawmakers have been slow to include Israel.   Continue reading “Espionage fears delaying Israeli visa exemption – report”

Artist's rendering of the possible communications application of an upward falling payload. (Image from darpa.mil)RT News

The Pentagon’s research arm, DARPA, is developing robot pods that can sit at the bottom of the ocean for long stretches of time, waiting to release airborne and water-based drones to the surface upon an attack command.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently called for bids to complete the final two phases of its Upward Falling Payloads (UFP) program. The UFP operation is an effort to position unmanned systems around far-flung regions of the sea floor. The housing pods would be left in place for years in anticipation of the US Navy’s need for non-lethal assistance.   Continue reading “DARPA producing sea-floor pods that can release attack drones on command”

AFP Photo / Don EmmertRT News

US special forces have been committing suicide at record levels for the last two years, the head of the US Special Operations Command (SOCom) admitted in a speech on Thursday. He blamed the high numbers on the length and difficulty of combat.

“There is a lot of angst. There’s a lot of pressure out there. My soldiers have been fighting now for 12, 13 years in hard combat. Hard combat,” Adm. William McRaven, the head of SOCom, said at a conference in Florida. “And anybody that has spent any time in this war has been changed by it. It’s that simple.”   Continue reading “US Special Ops forces committing suicide in record numbers”

Students protesting against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline march to the residence of US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington,DC on March 2, 2014 before going on to the White House. (AFP Photo / Nicholas Kamm)RT News

The Obama administration said Friday that it is giving federal agencies more time to assess a proposed trans-national pipeline, likely keeping a decision about the controversial Keystone XL project from being made anytime soon.

Both the Associated Press and Reuters reported that the decision to further delay any announcement about the project is expected to keep the Keystone pipeline’s future uncertain until after November, when several United States government positions will go up for grabs at mid-term elections.   Continue reading “Obama administration delays decision on Keystone XL pipeline again”

The Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba (AFP Photo / Michelle Shephard)RT News

A psychologist considered integral to crafting the CIA’s post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation” tactics slammed an unreleased Senate report on CIA torture as inaccurate while defending his role in working with the spy agency amid a volatile era in US history.

In his first interview in seven years, James Mitchell told freelance reporter Jason Leopold, writing for the Guardian, that he has nothing to apologize for regarding his place in the post-9/11 abuse of prisoners that, as he points out, was legal at the time.   Continue reading “CIA psychologist who developed torture program defends tactics”

Mail.com

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — All Massachusetts authorities could say for sure is that they found the lifeless body of a small boy, apparently cast off the side of a highway.

An autopsy should reveal if the child is Jeremiah Oliver, the Fitchburg 5-year-old missing for months before police learned of his disappearance and began looking for him. Jeremiah’s case has led to criminal charges against his mother and her boyfriend and calls for changes within the state’s child welfare agency. Three state workers have been fired.   Continue reading “Autopsy to ID dead boy; body cast off side of road”

Debra DenisonMail.com

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A woman who shot and killed her two young grandsons before committing suicide last year left a note to the boys’ parents saying they did not deserve to have the children, according to a police report.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, suggests a possible motive for the first time and sheds new light on her mental health problems: The grandmother, Debra Denison, had a history of conflict with the boys’ mother and had attempted suicide a half dozen times before.   Continue reading “APNewsBreak: Vengeful note left in 2 boys’ murder”

foodsafetxyNutritional Anarchy – by Melissa Melton

I’m always making a joke that our overblown government couldn’t even get together and make a noodle salad without finding some magical way to screw it up.

Apparently, and sadly so, that snarky bit of sarcasm isn’t all that far off the mark.

Food served at a Food Safety Summit held earlier this month between several of our federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Big Food industry giants the likes of Tyson, ConAgra and McDonald’s, actually gave some of the people who attended food poisoning.   Continue reading “The Most Irony Ever: Food Poisoning Strikes Diners at Gov’t Food Safety Summit”

Tech Dirt – by Timothy Geigner

When we talk about the stupidity that are school-affiliated zero-tolerance policies, those stories usually revolve around an administration’s inability to marry common sense with their reactions to non-issues. This can produce somewhat varied results, from really dumb stories about children being children and ending up in serious trouble, to a far more angering practice of victim-blaming. What it all boils down to, though, is an overreaction to certain tragic situations that results in bureaucratic lunacy on a level I never would have thought possible. School shootings and violence are the impetus in these cases, but we see this elsewhere as well. 9/11 resulted in the s#!*-show we know as airport security and NSA surveillance. The Boston Marathon bombing has resulted in the kind of militarized protection and media-blitzkrieg that would likely have other world nations that deal with far more terrorism shaking their heads. And, in each of these cases, we learn a simple truth that we should have seen coming all along: reactionary policies breed stupidity, corruption, and trouble.    Continue reading “The Logical Conclusion Of Zero Tolerance: College Prof Suspended Because Daughter Wore A GoT Tshirt”

Displaced residents of Budge Drive in Jackson, Wyo. register with the American Red Cross on Thursday, April 10, 2014 as geologists study the hillside on East Gros Ventre Butte where the potential for a landslide called for an evacuation the night before. (AP Photo/Jackson Hole News and Guide, Price Chambers)Philly.com – by Matthew Brown

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) – A sudden lurch in a creeping landslide in the northwest Wyoming resort town of Jackson split a house in two and forced workers to abandon just-begun efforts to stabilize the hillside.

A huge crack in the ground that had opened up under the house a couple weeks ago shifted several feet downhill in less than a day, breaking off a room or two and leaving a door swinging above the precipice. Rocks and dirt tumbled down in an almost constant stream and a geologist warned much bigger chunks could fall. The ground had been moving at a rate of an inch a day. Continue reading “Looming, creeping landslide splits home in Wyoming”

A slide from the National Security Agency powerpoint presentation on the PRISM program. (Image: Washington Post)Mondowiess – by Nancy Murry

If the Israeli government has indeed ordered its spies “to dig up intelligence” showing links between the supporters of BDS and “terrorists and enemy states” asreported in the February 11, 2014 London Times, it may find that it already has as much information as it needs in its data banks.

As described in the UK Guardian by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill, a 2008 document obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden states that “one of the NSA’s biggest threats is actually from friendly intelligence services, like Israel. There are parameters on what NSA shares with them, but the exchange is so robust, we sometimes share more than we intended.”   Continue reading “It’s time to reveal the Israeli role in the US surveillance machine”

TaxSovereign Man – by Simon Black

In the Land of the Free, people grow up hearing a lot of things about their freedom.

You’re told that you live in the freest country on the planet. You’re told that other nations ‘hate you’ for your freedom.

And you’re told that you have the most open and fair justice system in the world.   Continue reading “New court decision destroys the last element of the justice system”