Monthly Archives: July 2013

Radley Balko: “Once a town gets a SWAT team you want to use it”

"For decades, the war on drugs has empowered police to act aggressively. More recently, 9/11 and school shootings enforced the notion that there’s no such thing as too much security. Since 9/11, Homeland Security has distributed billions in grants, enabling even some small town police departments to buy armored personnel carriers and field their own SWAT teams. Once you have a SWAT team the only thing to do is kick some ass. There are more than 100 SWAT team raids every day in this country. They’re not chasing murderers or terrorists. For the most part they go after nonviolent offenders like drug dealers and even small time gamblers." Continue reading →

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U.S. eyes high-tech security boost at Canadian border

"A U.S. senator said a low-cost, high-tech sensor system could be installed along the U.S.-Canada border to increase security without harming business. Blue Rose, based on fiber-optic technology, is an in-ground perimeter defense and security system developed by the Naval Undersea Warfare, CBC News said. The system detects sound and vibration of intruders moving near the sensor. Surveillance technology could monitor who's approaching the border, helping to prevent drug smuggling and terrorism, Tester said, and could be particularly effective in areas such as Montana." Continue reading →

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The FBI: An American Cheka

"Nearly twenty years ago, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh – still basking in his agency’s residual glory from the Mt. Carmel Massacre of April 1993 – visited Moscow to sign a joint cooperation accord with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). After touring the Lubyanka Square headquarters of the Russian secret police, Freeh observed that 'Our nations have more in common than ever before.' At the time I thought it was shocking that Freeh would traduce his country by offering that comparison to the renamed KGB. Roughly two decades later I’ve come to understand that if the comparison is offensive, the Russians have the stronger claim to be the insulted party." Continue reading →

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Which Country Has the Most Expensive Bureaucrats of All?

"Germany is significantly better than the United States, whether measured by the cost of the bureaucracy or the size of the bureaucracy. Japan also does much better than America, notwithstanding that nation’s other problems. In the I’m-not-surprised category, France does poorly and Switzerland does well. To see where the trends are most worrisome, look at the changes over time. The total cost of bureaucracy, for instance, jumped considerably between 2000 and 2009 in Ireland, Greece, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, and the United States. So much for 'austerity.'" Continue reading →

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Obama Wants to Triple Airport Travel Tax

"The Obama administration is calling in its fiscal 2014 budget for the so-called Sept. 11 security fee to rise up to threefold, raking in $25.9 billion over a decade – and adding several dollars to the price of many tickets, reports Jennifer Waters. The security-fee proposal seeks to raise the maximum Aviation Passenger Security Fee to $7.50 by 2019, through 50-cent annual increases. The budget also proposes a new $100-per-flight departure tax, which would be paid by the airlines, as well as raising the passenger facility charge to $8 from $4.50 per flight and hiking other fees related to customs and immigration." Continue reading →

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Missouri gov. signs gun-safety course for first-graders

"Missouri schools will be encouraged to teach first-graders a gun safety course sponsored by the National Rifle Association as a result of legislation signed Friday by Gov. Jay Nixon. The legislation also requires school personnel to participate in an 'active shooter and intruder' drill led by law enforcement officers. The legislation also transfers the responsibility for issuing identification cards for concealed gun permits from driver’s license clerks to local sheriffs. That change was prompted by concerns that the state licensing agency’s procedures had infringed on people’s privacy rights." Continue reading →

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Pixar inspires graphic comment on NSA surveillance

"Living in the emotional Switzerland of my blissful neutrality, as I do, it's warming when people are inspired to create art to express dissent. So here is a very simple piece of animation, designed to emote a certain frustration with goings-on in the secret areas of government. It was delivered to me in an anonymous e-mail -- address snowdenhatesrussianfood@gmail.com -- that seemed to have been encrypted by goats. However, I understand it was first posted to Reddit and has now taken on a life of its very public own, with almost 1 million views on YouTube. It depicts the alleged regress of morning in America to night." Continue reading →

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California’s biggest community college loses accreditation

"California’s largest community college might be forced to close next year after regulators voted on Wednesday to strip City College of San Francisco of its accreditation. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges cited a lack of financial accountability and a raft of other longstanding problems, including leadership and governance deficiencies, when it voted to stop accrediting the two-year school serving 85,000 students as of July 31, 2014. Lost accreditation would trigger funding cuts that would shutter the 78-year-old school." Continue reading →

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Oregon ‘Pay It Forward’ Tuition Plan Punishes Graduates’ Success

"If Oregon makes the program mandatory, its colleges will in effect become the only ones in the U.S. that charge students with higher earnings potential more for their education, because they will contribute more over 25 years than everyone else. Motivated students wishing to major in engineering or finance will, quite rationally, opt for private colleges or out-of-state public colleges where they won’t have to subsidize liberal arts majors. A college financing program that requires students to sign away a chunk of their future income would also be unappealing to wealthy families that have the ability to pay cash. They would probably opt for private colleges, too." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOregon ‘Pay It Forward’ Tuition Plan Punishes Graduates’ Success

Desktop Sized Atom Smasher Demonstrated

"Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have built a tabletop particle accelerator that can generate energies and speeds previously reached only by major facilities that are hundreds of meters long and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. 'We have accelerated about half a billion electrons to 2 gigaelectronvolts over a distance of about 1 inch,' said Mike Downer, professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences. 'Until now that degree of energy and focus has required a conventional accelerator that stretches more than the length of two football fields. It’s a downsizing of a factor of approximately 10,000.'" Continue reading →

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