“Traveling in India, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with NBC’s Catherine Chomiak. Kerry said Edward Snowden’s actions are ‘beyond description’ and said he hopes Snowden is apprehended and faces the full weight of the U.S. legal system.” http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52300721
"Starting this fall, high school students in New Jersey who taunt each other during games will be subject to investigation not only by the state's athletic association, but the state's government. Thanks to collaboration between NJSIAA, the New Jersey Attorney General, and the New Jersey Civil Rights Division, 'discriminatory conduct will also be reported to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and may result in further investigation.'" Continue reading →
"It's not just the National Security Agency secretly vacuuming up your personal data. Local police agencies are increasingly adopting Big Data technologies such as automatic license-plate readers that gather information about everyone, whether they've broken the law or not. A lot of the information ends up on the 14th floor of a federal office building in San Francisco, where a 'fusion center' run by state and local law enforcement agencies combines the data with a plethora of personal information about you, from credit reports to car rentals to unlisted phone numbers to gun licenses." Continue reading →
"It had to 'cover benefit payments, forcing the agency to tap its $2.7 trillion trust fund sooner than some had expected.' But how did it tap this Trust Fund? By selling assets. What assets? IOUs from the Treasury. Where did the Treasury get the money to pay the S.S.A.? From the general fund. Where did the general fund get this money? By borrowing it. Where will the Treasury get the money to pay this interest? From the general fund. Where will the general fund get it? Borrowing. When the agency says 'shortages of tax revenue,' it refers to FICA tax revenue. But there is also a shortage of tax revenues in the general fund. That is why there is an annual deficit." Continue reading →
"Mortgage rates have soared. The days of the 3.5% 30-year mortgage are over. The bond market has been rigged by the FED. Everyone knows this. A handful of economists decide what rates should be. Investors went along with this. But Bernanke’s remarks persuaded them that the rigging will be reduced. So, they started selling their fixed-rate securities. This is what happens when the decisions of a handful of salaried economists to inflate the currency are substituted for the decisions of investors. The economists giveth, and then their #1 spokesman threatens to taketh away. Investors then scramble for the exits." Continue reading →
“An 84-year-old Florida man returned home with his wife Sunday afternoon only to find a burglar’s car parked in his driveway and the man stuffing the resident’s belongings into his car. After several warnings, the elderly man shot at the robber, but … Continue reading →
"14-year-old Jared Marcum, who was suspended and arrested in April over an NRA t-shirt that he wore to school, has had all charges against him dropped. The decision followed massive controversy, including a threat of a gag order. A local news station reported that the dismissal order signed by Judge Eric O’Briant stated, 'The state of West Virginia is not interested in the possibility of creating a juvenile criminal record for this defendant.' A statement which has brought Jared’s mother, Tanya Lardieri, to tears of joy." Continue reading →
"These images of an abandoned NSA listening post on the outskirts of West Berlin have a special poignancy today, as it was leaks alleged that the U.S. bugs Germany, its prima facie ally, on the same scale as Communist China. The towers, antennae and geodesic domes of Teufelsberg Hill have long since stopped eavesdropping on the airwaves, but the U.S. still taps half a billion German phone calls, emails and text messages in a typical month, it was claimed. German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended governments' monitoring of Internet communications, however, and said that the U.S. cyber-snooping had helped prevent attacks on German soil." Continue reading →
"It is telling that in ten years there were only 15 terrorism related 'sneak and peak' warrants issued while the rest were predominantly for drugs. It is this mission creep which has led to many of the abuses behind not just the Drug War, but the War on Terror. It is the permanent state of war that has contributed to the lack of transparency that should concern all Americans as laws and technology collide. How do we balance the need for security and maintain our civil liberties? It is this discussion that requires the full light of day. Whether Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA information is heroic or treasonous, what he revealed about America should startle us all." Continue reading →
"I’ve reported on government at the local and state level and have seen firsthand that agencies always grab as much power as they can. The most secretive agencies are the ones rife with abuse, and those agencies often cover up the misdeeds of their own agents. People often are drawn to power for less-than-noble reasons. That’s the nature of humanity and of government, although such lessons – at the core of the nation’s founding – are lost on the likes of McConnell and Obama. That coalition of left and right better expand rapidly or else this program will just be the stepping stool to another bigger and more effective governmental intrusion." Continue reading →