The Carlos Miller Case: Jury Says ‘Not Guilty’

"Carlos Miller was arrested for filming the police. Resisting the pressure to accept a 'deal,' he risked more prison time simply by insisting on his right to a jury trial. According to Miller, the prosecutor told the jury that Miller did not behave like a 'real journalist' because a 'real journalist' would have obeyed all police requests and orders." Continue reading

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Fayette man accuses police in Roane County of brutalizing him

"According to the Roane Magistrate Clerk’s Office, Fields on Dec. 29 was charged with false pretenses, conspiracy to commit a felony, obstructing an officer and fleeing on foot. Citing technical defects in the criminal complaint, Magistrate Jason D. Bennett dismissed the charges on March 30. As a result of his encounter with Williams, Bragg and Smith, who are named as co-defendants in the suit, Fields says he suffered a broken right orbital bone, nose, teeth, and injuries to his abdomen and genitals that has caused him, among other things, 'pain and suffering, mental and emotional anguish, humiliation and embarrassment.'" Continue reading

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Tenn. techie denies being hacker in Romney tax returns case

"A couple of weeks later, the Secret Service, acting on a search warrant, smashed through his front door and spent the next 18 hours pulling laptops, hard drives and all manner of digital storage devices from his Franklin home. Now, almost two months since his home was searched, Brown has not been charged with a crime. Brown said he could not explain why the Secret Service is targeting him, but he noted that in 2009 the same agency came to his house looking for evidence tying him to the alleged theft of thousands of Social Security numbers held by an insurance company. He was never charged." Continue reading

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Australia scraps plan to filter Internet

"The centre-left Labor government had pushed since 2007 for a mandatory Internet filter to protect children, to be administered by service providers, despite criticism it was impractical and set a precedent for censorship. The idea was that the filter would block access to material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse. But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government had now reached an agreement with Internet providers that they would block 'the worst of the worst', adding that about 1,400 sites monitored by Interpol would be barred." Continue reading

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Why License Plates Exist

"So the State can sell us yet another item no one needs or wants and milk more money from us, not only in the initial fee but later in fines, of course. The excuse that license plates help solve crimes is patently bogus. So rarely does that happen that a fascist organization actually awards a prize when it does. But license plates hand Leviathan another huge advantage, too: utter control of the serfs. Mayor Mike 'Nanny' Bloomberg has forced owners of gas stations to ration their product. And how does he accomplish that? Via those useless but expensive license plates." Continue reading

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Kansas City, Missouri Makes Red Light Running a Parking Violation

"Running a red light in Kansas City, Missouri is now treated as if the owner of the vehicle parked illegally in the middle of an intersection under city code changes unanimously adopted Thursday. That makes it a crime to own a vehicle that is 'located' within an intersection after the light turns red. Officials embraced this legal contortions to avoid having to offer full due process rights to motorists, since Missouri is one of the few states in the nation where red light light cameras are in use without the approval of the state legislature." Continue reading

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Bitcoin Venture Capitalist Roger Ver’s Journey to Anarchism

"In addition to computer parts, I, along with dozens of other resellers across the country, including Cabelas, were selling a product called a 'Pest Control Report 2000.' It was basically a firecracker used by farmers to scare deer and birds away from their corn fields. While everyone else, including the manufacturer, were simply asked to stop selling them I became the only person in the nation to be prosecuted. After my release from Lompoc Federal Penitentiary I had to deal with three years of lies, insults, threats, and general harassment by the US Federal probation department. I moved to Japan on the very day my probation finished." Continue reading

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Stuxnet goes out of control: Chevron infected by anti-Iranian virus, others could be next

"America’s cyberwar is already seeing collateral damage, and it’s hitting the country’s own billion-dollar companies. Oil giants Chevron say the Stuxnet computer virus made by the US to target Iran infected their systems as well. California-based Chevron, a Fortune 500 company that’s among the biggest corporations in the world, admits this week that they discovered the Stuxnet worm on their systems back in 2010. Up until now, Chevron managed to make their finding a well-kept secret, and their disclosure marks the first time a US company has come clean about being infected by the virus intended for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program." Continue reading

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In Egypt streets, Islamists throw weight around

"Four months since Egypt elected veteran Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Mursi as president, human rights activists say hardliners are trying to impose Islamist ways on society. Such actions have grabbed local headlines and fuelled the worst-case-scenario fears of moderates worried by the rise of Islamists who were tightly reined in by Hosni Mubarak but have emerged as a major force since he was swept from power. Christians say overall the atmosphere has become increasingly menacing as the presence of hostile Salafi Muslim hardliners in public life has grown more pronounced." Continue reading

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