LAPD performing a drug checkpoint. (Source: NBC Los Angeles)Police State USA

LOS ANGELES, CA — As drivers prove their innocence at warrantless police checkpoints this New Year, they will not only be scrutinized over their potential consumption of alcohol.  A new technology will enable the police to detect and arrest drivers for having marijuana, narcotics, and “other drugs” in their bloodstreams.

The recently unveiled device is a portable saliva swab analyzer, capable of immediately sampling body fluids for the presence of foreign intoxicants.  The machines were paid for by grants from the state.   Continue reading “Police to take saliva & blood from drivers at New Year’s drug checkpoints”

The Verge – by T.C. Sottek 

According to a new report from Der Spiegel based on internal NSA documents, the signals intelligence agency’s elite hacking unit (TAO) is able to conduct sophisticated wiretaps in ways that make Hollywood fantasy look more like reality. The report indicates that the NSA, in collaboration with the CIA and FBI, routinely and secretly intercepts shipping deliveries for laptops or other computer accessories in order to implant bugs before they reach their destinations. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA’s TAO group is able to divert shipping deliveries to its own “secret workshops” in a method called interdiction, where agents load malware onto the electronics or install malicious hardware that can give US intelligence agencies remote access.   Continue reading “NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy malware”

Michael VagniniPolice State USA

MILWAUKEE, WI –A disgusting scandal involving police officers performing illegal anal cavity searches with the intent to “degrade and humiliate” dozens and dozens of victims has come to an apparent conclusion, which some feel amounts to little more than a slap on the wrists for those involved.

Between February 2010 and February 2012, a small group of Milwaukee officers took part in a string of serial assaults on subjects pulled off the streets.  In many cases, the officers demanded the subjects produce the drugs they assumed were being hidden somewhere on their person.  When they were not satisfied with the cooperation from the subjects, an officer would jam his hand into the subject’s underpants, touch his genitals, and insert a finger into his anus on the side of the road.  Some of the complaints stated that drugs were planted during these searches.  At least one complainant was a juvenile, and one stated that he was fingered so hard that his anus bled afterwards.   Continue reading “Officer who forced dozens of anal cavity searches for fun gets only 2 years in prison”

Boing Boing – by Xeni Jardin 

My country grows stranger by the day. The elderly Italian lady who lives next door to me annotates her almanac to keep track of which moon phases bode best for planting, thinning, or harvesting fresh back yard arugula. Suspicious ways? She’s definitely attempting to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning. If the taste of the fresh, shared greens she drops off on my doorstep in brown paper bags are any proof — it’s working.   Continue reading “FBI warns of terrorists toting copies of Old Farmers’ Almanac”

Breitbart – by FRANCES MARTEL

Bill de Blasio’s tenure as mayor of New York City will officially begin on New Year’s Day, before the steps of City Hall, and with President Bill Clinton holding the Bible on which he will be sworn into office.

De Blasio’s transition team announced the presence of both Clinton’s at the ceremony on Saturday, with the former President presiding over the key inaugural act. “I was honored to serve in President Clinton’s administration and on Secretary Clinton’s campaign for U. S. Senate,” de Blasio said in a statement announcing their presence at the inaugural, “and I am honored again that they will both join our celebration for all of New York City.” He also tweeted out an old photo of his family with the Clintons expressing his gratitude for their presence. De Blasio will be using a Bible owned by another former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.   Continue reading “Bill Clinton will Swear in Bill De Blasio as NYC Mayor”

ABC News – by SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press

Connecticut gun owners are rushing to register certain firearms and ammunition that will be considered illegal contraband in the new year.

People have been lining up early in the morning at the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection’s headquarters in Middletown in recent days to turn in applications for assault weapons certificates and high-capacity magazine declaration forms so they can legally keep the items.   Continue reading “Conn. Gun Owners Rush to Register Weapons, Ammo”

NPR

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — Residents of this facility for people with Alzheimer’s disease toss around a yellow ball and laugh under a cascade of water with their caregivers, in a swimming pool ringed by palm trees and wind chimes. Susanna Kuratli, once a painter of delicate oils, swims a lap and smiles.

Watching is her husband, Ulrich, who has a heart-rending decision: to leave his wife of 41 years in this facility 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) from home, or to bring her back to Switzerland.   Continue reading “Some With Alzheimer’s Find Care In Far-Off Nations”

Is Mysterious Attack on San Jose, Calif. Power Station a Dress Rehearsal for Taking Out Electrical Grid?The Blaze – by Dave Urbanski

Although the fact that the still-unsolved attack on a power station near San Jose occurred just a handful of hours after the Boston Marathon bombing — and apparently raised a few eyebrows initially — its ride in the public eye has been decidedly under the radar to date.

But that may be changing.   Continue reading “Was Mysterious Attack on Calif. Power Station a ‘Dress Rehearsal’ for Much Larger Assault on U.S. Electrical Grid?”

jess2bFreedom Outpost – by Mike “Mish” Shedlock

If enough states act, we are on the way to a constitutional showdown over Obamacare. The Washington Times reports Missouri bill would gut Obamacare

Next month, the Missouri Senate will consider a bill which would effectively cripple the implementation of the Affordable Care Act within the state.   Continue reading “Missouri Bill to Gut Obamacare, Ban Penalties, Ban Healthcare Exchange”

ATF and Motor OilGrandpappy

ArmaLite conducted a series of extensive tests and they determined that Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) is a very good gun cleaner and lubricant. ATF does a very good job at removing carbon deposits and it also does an excellent job of protecting steel surfaces.

ArmaLite also recommends motor oil as a superior gun lubricant and rest inhibitor. Synthetic motor oil is best but regular motor oil also works well. After cleaning the bore with ATF, you could swab the inside of the gun barrel with 2 drops of motor oil on a clean gun cleaning patch in order to prevent future rust problems.   Continue reading “Alternative Gun Cleaning Solvent and Gun Cleaning Oil”

The Future of Freedom Foundation – by Sheldon Richman

The American people should know that pending right now in Congress is a bipartisan bill that would virtually commit the United States to go to war against Iran if Israel attacks the Islamic Republic. “The bill outsources any decision about resort to military action to the government of Israel,” Columbia University Iran expert Gary Sick wrote to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in protest, one of the bill’s principal sponsors.

The mind boggles at the thought that Congress would let a foreign government decide when America goes to war, so here is the language (PDF):   Continue reading “Congress Must Not Cede Its War Power to Israel”

Century Link –  by JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Leaving a judge to decide whether to throw out the conviction of a 14-year-old boy executed in South Carolina in 1944 reminds supporters of George Stinney of how the teen’s fate was also in one man’s hands nearly 70 years ago.

Gov. Olin Johnston could have commuted Stinney’s death sentence to life in prison if he wanted. He had 54 days between the time the black teen was convicted of killing two white girls in the tiny mill town of Alcolu in Clarendon County and his march to the electric chair with a Bible in his arm.   Continue reading “SC’s execution of 14-year-old riled people in 1944”

Digital Journal – by Justin King

Activists from around the world will begin attempting to create a twitterstorm in opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Twitter tonight. The opposition is coming from activists on both the left and right wing of the political spectrum.

The twitterstorm operation is set to begin at 7PM Eastern and will attempt to make the hashtag #StopTheTPP trend on Twitter, in hopes of raising awareness of the secretive trade deal being brokered among a dozen nations. The nations involved are the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei Darussalam. The Office of the United States Trade Representative hosts a blanket statement about the trade deal on its website stating in part:   Continue reading “Opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership explodes on Twitter”