EFF – by JENNIFER LYNCH

The Freedom of Information Act is not the only law the public can use to obtain records from the government. Most states have similar laws for accessing documents on the state and local levels. Here in California, EFF is using the California Public Records Act to learn what new technologies local law enforcement agencies are using and whether these technologies violate our rights.

Do you drive a car in the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area? According to the L.A. Police Department and L.A. Sheriff’s Department, your car is part of a vast criminal investigation.   Continue reading “Los Angeles Cops Argue All Cars in LA Are Under Investigation”

IAN VAN KUYK This photo, of a March 2012 arrest in Point Breeze, was what got Temple student Ian Van Kuyk in hot water with the police. He was later found not guilty of disorderly conduct and other charges.Philly.com – by WILLIAM BENDER

A TEMPLE University photojournalism student and his girlfriend are suing two Philadelphia police officers who they say wrongly arrested them in 2012 while he was photographing a neighbor’s arrest in Point Breeze.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Common Pleas Court by Ian Van Kuyk and Meghan Feighan, seeks compensatory and punitive damages for assault, battery, false arrest and imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. The defendants are Officers Samuel Allen and Santos Higgins.   Continue reading “Temple student sues Philly cops over photo incident”

The Washington Post – by RADLEY BALKO

A pretty awful new bill (PDF) in the Kansas legislature would require anyone filing a complaint against a police officer to swear an affidavit before the complaint will be investigated. If any portion of the complaint is later shown to be false, the complainant could then be prosecuted for perjury.

That’s bad enough. But the bill also has a couple other troubling provisions. First, it lets officers who are the subject of complaints avoid answering questions until they’re given the complaint with all documenting evidence in its entirety. No respectable police detective would conduct an investigation this way. Continue reading “Kansas could make it a felony to report unfounded allegations of police abuse”

Six world powers holds nuclear talks with Iran at the UN headquarters in Vienna, AustriaHaaretz – by Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have ordered the army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities at a cost of at least 10 billion shekels ($2.89 billion) this year, despite the talks between Iran and the West, according to recent statements by senior military officers.

Three Knesset members who were present at Knesset joint committee hearings on Israel Defense Forces plans that were held in January and February say they learned during the hearings that 10 billion shekels to 12 billion shekels of the defense budget would be allocated this year for preparations for a strike on Iran, approximately the same amount that was allocated in 2013.   Continue reading “Netanyahu orders IDF to prepare for possible strike on Iran during 2014”

Violence In The Face Of Tyranny Is Often NecessaryMilitia News – by Brandon Smith

It was the winter of 1939, only a few months earlier the Soviet Union and Hitler’s Third Reich had signed a partially secret accord known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; essentially a non-aggression treaty which divided Europe down the middle between the fascists and the communists. Hitler would take the West, and Stalin would take the East. Stalin’s war machine had already steamrolled into Latvia. Lithuania, and Estonia. The soviets used unprecedented social and political purges, rigged elections, and genocide, while the rest of the world was distracted by the Nazi blitzkrieg in Poland. In the midst of this mechanized power grab was the relatively tiny nation of Finland, which had been apportioned to the communists.   Continue reading “Violence In The Face Of Tyranny Is Often Necessary”

Before It’s News

The National Security Agency (NSA) has built a surveillance system that is capable of recording “100 percent” of a any country’s telephone calls, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.

The (NSA) National Security Agency’s “Mystic” and “Retro” programs can store 100 percent of a nation’s phone conversations for up to a month, according to The Washington Post and documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.   Continue reading “Snowden Doc: NSA Can Now Collect 100 Percent Of All Your Phone Conversations”

Before It’s News

People very often do not understand how important their privacy is in todays world. Many time we have been conditioned to accept the invasion of our privacy. Now the internet adds a new dimension to the invasion of our privacy, every thing we do, every site we visit, is recorded. Now Facebook adds a new dimension to the invasion of our privacy.

Today social media giant Facebook has taken another big step to gathering data about users with its new “Deep Face” program. Promising to recognize faces in photos uploaded with 97 percent accuracy, the new program could be a boon for marketers who want to make sure their ads find the right people.    Continue reading “Facebook’s New “Deepface” Program Is Just As Creepy As It Sounds”

Philly.com – by Andrew M. Seaman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – About half of American adults believe in at least one medical conspiracy theory, according to new survey results.

Some conspiracy theories have much more traction than others, however.

For example, three times as many people believe U.S. regulators prevent people from getting natural cures as believe that a U.S. spy agency infected a large number of African Americans with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).   Continue reading “You’re not alone: Medical conspiracies believed by many”

CenturyLink

HOUSTON (AP) — A house overflowing with more than 100 people presumed to be in the U.S. illegally was uncovered just outside Houston on Wednesday, a police spokesman said.

The suspected stash house was found during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, that were reported missing by relatives late Tuesday after a man failed to meet them as planned at an undisclosed location on the city’s north side, said John Cannon, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. Many of the people in home that authorities said appeared to be part of a human smuggling operation were dressed only in undergarments and they were sitting in in filthy conditions and surrounded by trash bags full of old clothing, Cannon said.   Continue reading “More than 100 people found in house in Houston”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

One of the primary drivers of the real estate bubble in the past several years, particularly in the ultra-luxury segment, were megawealthy Chinese buyers, seeking to park their cash into the safety of offshore real estate where it was deemed inaccessible to mainland regulators and overseers, tracking just where the Chinese record credit bubble would end up. Some, such as us, called it “hot money laundering”, and together with foreclosure stuffing and institutional flipping (of rental units and otherwise), we said this was the third leg of the recent US housing bubble. However, while the impact of Chinese buying in the US has been tangible, it has paled in comparison with the epic Chinese buying frenzy in other offshore metropolitan centers like London and Hong Kong. This is understandable: after all as Chuck Prince famously said in 2007, just before the first US mega-bubble burst, “as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.” In China, the music just ended.   Continue reading “The Music Just Ended: “Wealthy” Chinese Are Liquidating Offshore Luxury Homes In Scramble For Cash”

Wall Street Journal – by ROSS KELLY and JAMES GLYNN

SYDNEY—An Australian-led operation is under way to determine whether objects located by satellite imagery in the southern Indian Ocean belong to missing Malaysia Airlines3786.KU -2.08% Flight 370.

“New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search,” Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott during a regular sitting of Parliament.   Continue reading “Satellites Spot Possible Debris From Malaysia Airlines Flight”

How Web Servers WorkTechLila – by Rajesh Namase

Before discussing how web servers work, it is first necessary to understand what a server is and how it affects the way your website or blog works. Fundamentally, a web server passes the information and data needed for you to run your website or blog onto your terminal, whether that is a PC, a Mac or a portable device such as a cell phone or tablet.   Continue reading “How Web Servers Work and the Importance of Location”

Video Rebel’s Blog

Wall Street has built a Pyramid of Greed. It is upside down with very few people down below supporting the many above them. At Giza the Egyptian architects built a pyramid with all the weight on the bottom supporting a small capstone on the top. That is because they were builders and not Bankers. I wrote 6 Levels Of The American Government. Level F is where people who work and pay taxes are. F literally stands for those who must be Flogged to get them to pay taxes to support those who appointed themselves to rule.   Continue reading “Wall Street’s Pyramid Of Greed. You Are On The Bottom.”

Sulaiman Abu GhaithMail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law offered a rare glimpse of the al-Qaida leader in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, recounting during surprise testimony Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom how the two met that night in a cave in Afghanistan.

“Did you learn about what happened … the attacks on the United States?” the son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, recalled bin Laden asking him. “We are the ones who did it.” The testimony came as Abu Ghaith’s trial on charges he conspired to kill Americans and aid al-Qaida as a spokesman for the terrorist group took a dramatic turn. His decision to take the witness stand was announced by his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, who surprised a nearly empty courtroom that quickly filled with spectators as word spread.    Continue reading “Ex-al-Qaida spokesman recalls 9/11 with bin Laden”

Jeb Bush, Lamar AlexanderMail.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday urged state officials to follow through on Common Core education standards despite what he called an “avalanche” of criticism from those who oppose them.

Bush said at an education forum with Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that the standards are key to improving educational achievement around the country. “This is a real-world, grown-up approach to a real crisis that we have,” said Bush, who later brushed off reporters’ questions about his presidential aspirations. “And it’s been mired in politics.   Continue reading “Jeb Bush: Follow through on Common Core standards”