Alternative News

CIA Allowed To Sustain Cover-Up of Bay Of Pigs History; Reclassification Denied

"More than year after the National Security Archive sued the CIA to declassify the full 'Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation,' a U.S. District Court judge today sided with the Agency's efforts to keep the last volume of the report secret in perpetuity. In her ruling, Judge Gladys Kessler accepted the CIA's legal arguments that, because Volume V was a 'draft' and never officially approved for inclusion in the Agency's official history, it was exempt from declassification under the 'deliberative process privilege' despite having been written over 30 years ago. The National Security Archive called the decision 'a regrettable blow to the right-to-know'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA Allowed To Sustain Cover-Up of Bay Of Pigs History; Reclassification Denied

South American states to recall ambassadors from Europe over Bolivian plane incident

"South American countries belonging to the Mercosur trade bloc have decided to withdraw their ambassadors for consultations from European countries involved in the grounding of the Bolivian president’s plane. 'We've taken a number of actions in order to compel public explanations and apologies from the European nations that assaulted our brother Evo Morales,' explained Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, who revealed some of the agenda debated during the 45th summit of Mercosur countries in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth American states to recall ambassadors from Europe over Bolivian plane incident

Ben Swann on the Liberty Rising Truth in Media Project and the State of US Journalism

"There is a generational change in how Americans view journalists. For people under the age of 35, the majority say they get their news from... wait for it... the Daily Show! That tells me two things. 1. Americans under the age of 35 consider 'comedians' journalists. 2. Americans under the age of 35 consider 'journalists' a joke. I have heard from literally tens of thousands of people who say that I am helping to restore journalism. that the work I have been doing puts networks to shame. Simply put, this is a chance to take that journalism to the next and best level – one where we are not dependent upon an established news network." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBen Swann on the Liberty Rising Truth in Media Project and the State of US Journalism

Radley Balko: “Once a town gets a SWAT team you want to use it”

"For decades, the war on drugs has empowered police to act aggressively. More recently, 9/11 and school shootings enforced the notion that there’s no such thing as too much security. Since 9/11, Homeland Security has distributed billions in grants, enabling even some small town police departments to buy armored personnel carriers and field their own SWAT teams. Once you have a SWAT team the only thing to do is kick some ass. There are more than 100 SWAT team raids every day in this country. They’re not chasing murderers or terrorists. For the most part they go after nonviolent offenders like drug dealers and even small time gamblers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRadley Balko: “Once a town gets a SWAT team you want to use it”

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Which Country Has the Most Expensive Bureaucrats of All?

"Germany is significantly better than the United States, whether measured by the cost of the bureaucracy or the size of the bureaucracy. Japan also does much better than America, notwithstanding that nation’s other problems. In the I’m-not-surprised category, France does poorly and Switzerland does well. To see where the trends are most worrisome, look at the changes over time. The total cost of bureaucracy, for instance, jumped considerably between 2000 and 2009 in Ireland, Greece, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, and the United States. So much for 'austerity.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMirror, Mirror on the Wall, Which Country Has the Most Expensive Bureaucrats of All?

Obama Wants to Triple Airport Travel Tax

"The Obama administration is calling in its fiscal 2014 budget for the so-called Sept. 11 security fee to rise up to threefold, raking in $25.9 billion over a decade – and adding several dollars to the price of many tickets, reports Jennifer Waters. The security-fee proposal seeks to raise the maximum Aviation Passenger Security Fee to $7.50 by 2019, through 50-cent annual increases. The budget also proposes a new $100-per-flight departure tax, which would be paid by the airlines, as well as raising the passenger facility charge to $8 from $4.50 per flight and hiking other fees related to customs and immigration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Wants to Triple Airport Travel Tax

Pixar inspires graphic comment on NSA surveillance

"Living in the emotional Switzerland of my blissful neutrality, as I do, it's warming when people are inspired to create art to express dissent. So here is a very simple piece of animation, designed to emote a certain frustration with goings-on in the secret areas of government. It was delivered to me in an anonymous e-mail -- address snowdenhatesrussianfood@gmail.com -- that seemed to have been encrypted by goats. However, I understand it was first posted to Reddit and has now taken on a life of its very public own, with almost 1 million views on YouTube. It depicts the alleged regress of morning in America to night." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPixar inspires graphic comment on NSA surveillance

Desktop Sized Atom Smasher Demonstrated

"Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have built a tabletop particle accelerator that can generate energies and speeds previously reached only by major facilities that are hundreds of meters long and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. 'We have accelerated about half a billion electrons to 2 gigaelectronvolts over a distance of about 1 inch,' said Mike Downer, professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences. 'Until now that degree of energy and focus has required a conventional accelerator that stretches more than the length of two football fields. It’s a downsizing of a factor of approximately 10,000.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDesktop Sized Atom Smasher Demonstrated

Facebook Billionaire Sean Parker Fined $2.5 Million For His $10 Million Wedding

"New government documents show just how over-the-top Sean Parker's extravagant $10 million wedding in the Big Sur forest really was. The state of California actually fined the Facebook billionaire $2.5 million over it. That's because he built a cottage, fake ruins, waterfalls, staircases and a huge dance floor in an ecologically sensitive area near ancient redwoods and a stream with endangered steelhead trout. Parker even created an LLC company, Neraida, to run his wedding, reports The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal. But he didn't get permission from the Coastal Commission, which regulates the area." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFacebook Billionaire Sean Parker Fined $2.5 Million For His $10 Million Wedding

Paul Craig Roberts: Putin Dresses Down The Group of Eight

"'You want President Bashshar al-Asad to step down? Look at the leaders you’ve made in the Middle East in the course of what you have dubbed the 'Arab Spring.' [...] 'In Syria all of you are standing on the side of the forces that for the last 10 years you have claimed to be fighting against under the rubric of ‘fighting terror.’ Now today you are with them, helping them to take power across the region. You declare that you’re going to arm them and work to facilitate sending their fighters to Syria to bring it down, weaken it, and break it up.' Putin asked, 'In God’s name what kind of democracy are you talking about?'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Putin Dresses Down The Group of Eight