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Levi Chavez, ex-New Mexico police officer, acquitted of wife’s murder

“A jury acquitted Levi Chavez of murdering his wife and trying to make the hairdresser’s death look like a suicide. Prosecutor Bryan McKay, who told jurors during closing arguments that Chavez used his department-issued gun to commit ‘cold-blooded, calculated, planned-out murder,’ declined to comment after the verdict. A wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Tera Chavez alleges the former officer killed his wife to keep her from disclosing an alleged staged theft of a truck for insurance money. Chavez acknowledged having a string of mistresses, searching a website on how to kill someone with martial arts moves, and ignoring his wife’s calls for help.” Continue reading →

Police raid on wrong address felt like home invasion

“He was claiming to be a police officer, but the man she had seen looked to her more like an armed thug. Her boyfriend, Dorris, was calmer, and yelled back that he wanted to see some ID. But the man just demanded they open the door. The actual words, the couple say, were, ‘We’re the f—— police; open the f—— door.’ Then, to the couple’s horror — and as Goldsberry huddled in the hallway with gun in hand — the front door they had thought was locked pushed open. A man edged around the corner and pointed a gun and a fiercely bright light at them, and yelled even more. ‘Drop the f—— gun or I’ll f—— shoot you,’ he shouted, then said it again and again.” Continue reading →

Kafka’s America: Secret Courts, Secret Laws, and Total Surveillance

“A mechanism to protect the American people from unwarranted government surveillance became instead a bureaucratic mechanism to rubber stamp government applications for surveillance. The Court is structured such that applications for surveillance are rarely ever denied. If a judge were to reject an application, that judge would have to immediately write a report detailing every reason for the rejection, then transmit the report to a 3-person court of review. If that court finds that the application was properly denied, it must also write a report, which is then subject to a writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court. No reviews are necessary if an application is granted.” Continue reading →

German Intelligence Worked Closely with NSA on Data Surveillance

“Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said she knew nothing about American surveillance activities in Germany. But documents show that German intelligence cooperates closely with the NSA and even uses spy software provided by the US. The shift to a more offensive German security policy began in 2007. Since then, there have been ‘regular US-German analytic exchanges and closer cooperation in tracking both German and non-German extremist targets.’ The German foreign intelligence agency went even further in its effort to please the Americans, ‘working to influence the German government to relax interpretation of the privacy laws’.” Continue reading →

Which Countries Can The NSA Whistleblower Escape To?

“An extradition treaty is a legal mechanism that countries use to transfer people to another country for numerous reasons. The terms and conditions of extradition treaties vary due to the circumstances of each individual case and also from country to country. Some countries (like France and Brazil) will not extradite their own citizens no matter what. Generally speaking, in order for extradition to be successful, the suspected criminal act must not be political in nature, it must be recognized as a crime in both jurisdictions, and the suspect must not be in danger of receiving the death penalty or torture if transferred.” Continue reading →

How will Obama defend secret NSA program in court? Letter offers clue.

“The letter continues, ‘the Government is prohibited … from indiscriminately sifting through the data. The data-base may only be queried for intelligence purposes by NSA analysts where there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion (RAS), based on specific facts.’ If the government wants to take a closer look, any data gleaned must be associated with people or phone numbers already identified and approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In 2012, the letter revealed, the court approved fewer than 300 ‘query terms’ that would allow intelligence analysts to pursue a phone call further.” Continue reading →

Why the Only Real Way to Buy Bitcoins Is on the Streets

“Buttonwood meetups started in New York a few months ago and fanned out to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Buttonwood is an allusion to the May 17, 1792 agreement, struck under a buttonwood tree at 68 Wall Street, that set down the rules for what became the New York Stock Exchange. The Yerba Buena Bitcoiners see themselves as the modern descendants of these 18th century traders. Like them, they conduct their business in the open and face-to-face. It’s a little unexpected: The world’s pre-eminent digital currency is most safely traded face-to-face. But the Bitcoin phenomenon is itself unexpected.” Continue reading →

The Gold Lease Story You Haven’t Heard

“A recent article in the Financial Times described a shortage of so-called ‘leased’ gold. According to the Times, the cost of borrowing gold ‘has risen to the highest since the post-Lehman Bros. scramble for supplies as bullion markets adjust to a new era in which Western investor demand is less dominant.’ The numbers are small, but the trends are intriguing. The one-month gold leasing rate rose from 0.12% in early June to 0.3% in early July. That’s a 150% rate rise in one month! It’s the highest gold lease rate since 2009, although still well below the peaks of previous eras.” Continue reading →