Kentucky Bill Would Limit Warrantless Drone Surveillance

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2017) – A bill prefiled in the Kentucky House would require police to get a warrant before engaging in drone surveillance in most situations. Passage of this legislation would not only establish important privacy protections at the state level, it would also help thwart the federal surveillance state. Rep. Diane St.…

Continue ReadingKentucky Bill Would Limit Warrantless Drone Surveillance

More Broke States Trading In Vice Enforcement For Tax Revenue

"Pennsylvania is in the midst of a budget crisis. Seeing New Jersey success is raising revenue from Internet gambling, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives suggested that to avoid a tax increase, they would follow suit. This week, after years of haggling, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a measure to make Pennsylvania the fourth state to legalize online gaming – a move that is projected to bring in $426.3 million in tax revenue from 2017 to 2022. Michigan is also considering making a move, and guess who the chief opponent is?"

Continue ReadingMore Broke States Trading In Vice Enforcement For Tax Revenue

Texas Police, Looking for More Military Hardware, Tout Its Use In Harvey Relief

"With military-grade equipment available for the cost of pick-up, police forces have been stocking up. While some of that equipment appears actually to have been used in post-hurricane relief work, most of it is better suited for SWAT raids, intimidating protesters, and killing people."

Continue ReadingTexas Police, Looking for More Military Hardware, Tout Its Use In Harvey Relief

Paradise Papers hang-out reveals income tax industry’s countermeasures

"The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires. The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times."

Continue ReadingParadise Papers hang-out reveals income tax industry’s countermeasures

GOP sneaks in automatic annual tax increase by introducing chained CPI

"Republican tax-writers have decided to shift the tax code’s inflation index from the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, to something known as chained CPI, which is a slower-growing method of calculating cost-of-living increases. Using the lower rate of inflation to calculate future tax rates means taxpayers will more quickly fall into higher tax brackets, meaning they will pay more in taxes than if Republicans stuck with the traditional measuring stick. It works out to taxpayers paying $128 billion more to Uncle Sam than they would otherwise over the next decade, and $500 billion more in the subsequent decade."

Continue ReadingGOP sneaks in automatic annual tax increase by introducing chained CPI

Duty, Honor, Atrocity: George W. Bush Receives West Point Character Award

"In George W. Bush’s home state of Texas, if you are an ordinary citizen found guilty of capital murder, the mandatory sentence is either life in prison or the death penalty. If, however, you are a former president of the United States responsible for initiating two illegal wars of aggression, which killed 7,000 U.S. servicemen and at least 210,000 civilians, displaced more than 10 million people from their homes, condoned torture, initiated a global drone assassination campaign, and imprisoned people for years without substantive evidence or trial in Guantanamo Bay, the punishment evidently is to be given the Thayer Award at West Point."

Continue ReadingDuty, Honor, Atrocity: George W. Bush Receives West Point Character Award