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Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep fliers safe

"It is perhaps America’s most unsafe airport. Despite being the launching point for one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 — Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania — Newark Airport has had numerous security violations since. The latest: a fake bomb that made it past Transportation Security Administration officers. Here, a Newark TSA screener who recently left the agency tells how silly policies and lazy workers do little to stop real threats." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep fliers safe

Is the U.S. at War with Al-Qaeda?

"Imagine Ma Barker's gang or a gang of John Dillingers who unilaterally declare 'war' against the U.S. Would the U.S. in turn declare war against them? Metaphorically it might, in order to show a steely determination to capture and stop them. But does their declaration by itself entitle the U.S. to kill them without an attempt to capture them and place them on trial? Certainly not. Lynching is summary execution. No government can be trusted with the power of summarily killing someone, even if that person has 'declared war' on that government. Such a power is too easy to extend and expand and inflict upon the innocent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the U.S. at War with Al-Qaeda?

Google Says the FBI Is Secretly Spying on Some of Its Customers

"It is unlawful for any record-keeper to disclose it has received a so-called National Security Letter. But under a deal brokered with the President Barack Obama administration, Google on Tuesday published a 'range' of times it received National Security Letters demanding it divulge account information to the authorities without warrants. It was the first time a company has ever released data chronicling the volume of National Security Letter requests. National Security Letters allow the government to get detailed information on Americans’ finances and communications without oversight from a judge. The FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle Says the FBI Is Secretly Spying on Some of Its Customers

Americans – Like Nazi Germans – Don’t Notice that All of Our Rights Are Slipping Away

"More and more commonly, the government prosecutes cases based upon 'secret evidence' that they don’t show to the defendant … or sometimes even the judge hearing the case. The government uses 'secret evidence' to spy on Americans, prosecute leaking or terrorism charges (even against U.S. soldiers) and even assassinate people. And see this and this. Secret witnesses are being used in some cases. And sometimes lawyers are not even allowed to read their own briefs. Indeed, even the laws themselves are now starting to be kept secret. And it’s about to get a lot worse." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmericans – Like Nazi Germans – Don’t Notice that All of Our Rights Are Slipping Away

U.S. Government: The Truth Is Too Complicated and Dangerous to Disclose to the Public

"Secretive, unaccountable agencies are making life and death decisions which effect our most basic rights. They provide 'secret evidence' to courts which cannot be checked … and often withhold any such 'evidence' even from the judges. The government uses 'secret evidence' to spy on Americans, prosecute leaking or terrorism charges (even against U.S. soldiers) and even assassinate people. All of this happened in Germany – as in America today – because the governments whipped up so much fear of attack by demonizing the enemy and declaring an open-ended war that people became complacent and stopped thinking for themselves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Government: The Truth Is Too Complicated and Dangerous to Disclose to the Public

Paul Craig Roberts: Obama’s Expanding Kill List

"If the Obama regime is on the side of the government, as in Algeria, it will kill the rebels opposing the government. If the Obama regime is on the side of the rebels, as in Libya, it will kill the government’s leaders. Whether Washington sends a drone to murder Putin and the president of China remains to be seen. The elasticity of the Kill List and its easy expansion makes it certain that Washington will be involved in extra-judicial executions of those 'associated with terrorism' over much of the world. Americans themselves should be alarmed, because the term 'association with terrorism' is very elastic." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Obama’s Expanding Kill List

Drones, Assassinations, and the Drug War

"The Chinese military recently planned to assassinate by drone a suspected drug lord hiding out in Myanmar who was accused of having murdered 13 Chinese soldiers. While Chinese authorities ultimately decided not to carry out the assassination and ended up capturing the guy and having a court sentence him to death, the episode clearly points in the direction that both the Chinese communist regime and the U.S. government are taking their respective countries. After all, China could justify the assassination of the suspected drug lord in the same way that the U.S. government justifies the assassination of suspected terrorists." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrones, Assassinations, and the Drug War

10 Reasons The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free

"Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free nation must include their own — the land of free. Yet, the laws and practices of the land should shake that confidence. In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state. While each new national security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often discussed in isolation. But they don’t operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian." Continue reading →

Continue Reading10 Reasons The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free

Paul Craig Roberts: It Has Happened Here

"Some Americans claim that we have had police states during other wartimes and that once the war on terror is won, the police state will be dismantled. Others claim that government will be judicious in its use of the power and that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. These are reassurances from the deluded. The Bush/Obama police state is far more comprehensive than Lincoln’s, Wilson’s, or Roosevelt’s, and the war on terror is open-ended and is already three times longer than World War II. The Police State is acquiring 'squatter’s rights.' Moreover, the government needs the police state in order to protect itself from accountability." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: It Has Happened Here