Author: The Freedom Watch Staff

This author has written 11091 articles

City spends $585,000 on study of how to save money

"Why did Baltimore need to pay outside consultants half a million dollars for a report that says the city's financial future is grim? Public Financial Management Inc. of Philadelphia won the contract in 2011 with a proposal to charge the city $460,000, beating two other finalists whose work would have cost taxpayers $500,000 and $507,000, respectively. But the scope of the needed work grew over the past year, and city officials added another $125,000 to the deal — meaning the consultants were paid $585,000 in all." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCity spends $585,000 on study of how to save money

Drones not just for foreign attacks, will fill up the U.S. skies

"Suddenly drones are everywhere -- not in the skies over the United States, as they will be by the thousands in a few years, and not just hovering over foreign battlefields to strike terror in the heart of al-Qaida -- but as the focus of debate in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere. Inevitably, the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to determine whether the use of extrajudicial lethal force against those marked as terrorists posing an imminent threat, including U.S. citizens, is constitutional. The court also will be asked to determine how intrusive drones can be when flown over domestic air space by government, law enforcement and private companies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrones not just for foreign attacks, will fill up the U.S. skies

Pepe Escobar: The illusory state of the Empire

"Obama's legacy may be in the process of being forged. We might call it Shadow War Forever - coupled with the noxious permanence of Guantanamo. The Pentagon for its part will never abandon its 'full spectrum' dream of military hegemony, ideally controlling the future of the world in all those shades of grey zones between Russia and China, the lands of Islam and India, and Africa and Asia. Were lessons learned? Of course not. Obama can afford to be self-confident because the Drone Empire is safe. Most Americans seem to absent-mindedly endorse it - as long as 'the terrorists' are alien, not US citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: The illusory state of the Empire

Russian official demonizes U.S. for ‘inhumane torture’ of adopted children

"A woman in the US state of Texas has killed her adopted Russian son, the Kremlin’s envoy for children said Monday, outlining the latest alleged abuse of an adopted Russian child by American parents. 'A three-year-old Russian child has been murdered by his adoptive mother in the state of Texas,' ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said on his office’s Twitter feed @RFdeti. 'Three-year-old Maxim was beaten (according to the investigators) by his adoptive mother, who fed him psychoactive drugs over a long period of time,' he said, expressing dismay that the US State Department kept silent about the case." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian official demonizes U.S. for ‘inhumane torture’ of adopted children

Guantánamo commander admits listening devices eavesdropped on lawyer meetings with clients

"The battered credibility of the Guantánamo trials has been further dented by revelations of hidden microphones, intelligence service interference with court proceedings and protests from lawyers who say the US military is preventing a proper defence of the alleged organisers of the 9/11 attacks. In recent days, the commander of the Guantánamo prison, Colonel John Bogdan, was forced to admit on the witness stand that secret listening devices disguised as smoke detectors were installed in the cell where lawyers met their clients, and that he knew nothing about them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuantánamo commander admits listening devices eavesdropped on lawyer meetings with clients

Senate committee chair: U.S. will likely have more active military role in Mali

"The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday. Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the Malian army until a democratically elected government replaces current leaders who came to power after a coup." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenate committee chair: U.S. will likely have more active military role in Mali

1954 U.S. Comic Book Moral Panic Was Based On Fraudulent Data

"Behavioral problems among teenagers and preteens can be blamed on the media marketed to them – that was the topic of televised public hearings held by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1954. The hearings, which resulted in the decimation of what was an enormous comic book industry, had been inspired by the book 'Seduction of the Innocent,' by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, based on his own case studies. Wertham’s personal archives, however, show that the doctor revised children’s ages, distorted their quotes, omitted other causal factors and in general “played fast and loose with the data he gathered on comics.'” Continue reading →

Continue Reading1954 U.S. Comic Book Moral Panic Was Based On Fraudulent Data

FDA Going After Raw Milk Cheese Despite Absence of a Single Documented Case in 23 Years

"A newly released 189-page report from the FDA and Health Canada concludes that there is 'a 50- to 160-fold increase in the risk of listeriosis from a serving of soft-ripened raw-milk cheese, compared with cheese made from pasteurized milk.' As a result, they want to see raw milk cheeses like camembert and brie either subject to unprecedented testing, processing similar to pasteurization, or else banned completely. But the actual real-life data presented in the report of illnesses worldwide from listeriosis in soft cheese over a 23-year period between 1986 and 2008 show not a single documented illness in the U.S. from listeriosis due to tainted brie or camembert." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFDA Going After Raw Milk Cheese Despite Absence of a Single Documented Case in 23 Years

Thirty-five Percent of Major U.S. Regulations Were Issued Without Public Notice

"Federal law generally requires that regulations, both major and minor, be opened for public comment, allowing interested parties to read the rules and remark on them, potentially enacting changes to the proposed rules. The GAO report notes that the majority of the regulations published without a notice-and-comment period were done so because the government claimed to have 'good cause' to do so. The federal government invokes 'good cause' when it believes a comment period or comments are contrary to the public interest or if public notice may be deemed unnecessary or impractical." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThirty-five Percent of Major U.S. Regulations Were Issued Without Public Notice

The Unsung, But Massive Obamacare Sales Tax Increase That Is On the Way

"In 2014, Obamacare will take effect, with many of the changes set to roll out over the next six months. There are a number of new taxes that the ACA will bring- twenty one to be exact- but the sales tax on the purchase of health insurance is by far the largest. The tax increases that remain on the books will cost taxpayers more than $675 billion over the next ten years. Chief among these will be the sales tax on the purchase of health insurance, totaling $101.7 billion, and making it larger than all the other industry-specific taxes combined." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Unsung, But Massive Obamacare Sales Tax Increase That Is On the Way