Alternative News

Homicide convictions upheld for faith-healer parents whose daughter died

"Wisconsin and more than a dozen other states have protections in place to keep parents who choose prayer over medical attention from being charged with child abuse. The Neumanns’ attorneys maintain that the law protects parents up through the creation of a potentially lethal situation, making the line where faith-healer parents cross over into criminal liability a blurry one. An Neumann family attorney told the AP that the couple is 'devastated' by the decision. 'They’re still mourning the loss of this child,' said Dale Neumann’s defense lawyer Steven L. Miller. 'From their perspective they felt they were acting in a legal manner.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHomicide convictions upheld for faith-healer parents whose daughter died

Warrantless Window-Smashing Weapon Search At U.S. Border Patrol Internal Checkpoint

"I was detained for 9hrs and cuffed 6 of that. I went from an outdoor bench to a detention trailer, fingerprinted, photographed. Did a criminal history search. Brought to admin trailer and cuffed to a bench. My Cameras, Computer, Phone, iPod cataloged. A high clearance Agent was sought view my recent FBI Interrogation. I was trucked to a permanent detention center. All was confiscated. They set me on foot 200miles from home, 100miles from my destination with ID and credit cards." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWarrantless Window-Smashing Weapon Search At U.S. Border Patrol Internal Checkpoint

“Mental Illness” Diagnoses Are the Slippery Slope to Gun Confiscation

"The definition of someone who is officially 'mentally ill' could be changed at a moment’s notice once these types of laws are in place, making them an extreme danger to rights. So far, only California and New York have implemented them, but other states may follow. As the situation stands now, the New York law mandates that all mental health professionals, psychiatrists, and psychologists must report any patient they believe may be 'dangerous' to local officials, who will then have the authority to seize all firearms that individual might own — don’t make your psychiatrist angry." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Mental Illness” Diagnoses Are the Slippery Slope to Gun Confiscation

CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou’s Open Letter to Edward Snowden

"Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is serving a thirty-month sentence in prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania, has written another letter. It expresses support for former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has exposed secret US government surveillance programs and policies, and provided a glimpse of the ever-expanding massive surveillance apparatus the government has built. Kiriakou was the first member of the CIA to publicly acknowledge that torture was official US policy under the administration of President George W. Bush. He was convicted in October of last year of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou’s Open Letter to Edward Snowden

France wants to ‘temporarily suspend’ trade talks with US over NSA spying

"France wants to delay the ‘biggest bilateral trade deal in history' by 2 weeks after learning the USA was allegedly tracking economic communications of EU member states. But Germany says they should go ahead as planned. The trade agreement negotiations, which could potentially be a key factor in reversing the slow economic climate, are set to commence Monday in Washington DC. Despite surveillance claims, Germany wants the talks to go on as planned, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said shortly after France raised a 2-week delay proposal. 'We want this free trade agreement and we want to start the talks now,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance wants to ‘temporarily suspend’ trade talks with US over NSA spying

Scientists invent contact lenses that bestow telescopic vision

"Researchers in Switzerland and San Diego said this week that they have developed contact lenses that can bestow telescopic vision upon the wearer. The contacts work in conjunction with a set of special glasses that wouldn’t seem that unusual by themselves. Inside the lens, a tiny ring reflects light back and forth with hundreds of aluminum mirrors. Those mirrors are positioned precisely so that all the points of light come together in an image projected onto the eye that depicts the world magnified by 2.8 times, according to the BBC. The project was funded through the U.S. Department of Defense’s research wing DARPA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScientists invent contact lenses that bestow telescopic vision

New York to Tokyo in two hours

"The engine would incorporate turbine stages not connected by a shaft, each able to rotate independently at the optimal speed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency in flight. They would spin in electromagnetic fields, using the same principle that allows high-speed trains to float frictionless above an energized track. The engine is a hybrid of turbofan, turbojet, and turbo ramjet, able to generate 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity. It uses about 9 MW of electricity to power a plasma field generator reshaping airflow around the aircraft and taming the pressure wave, turning sonic boom into a sound similar to rustling leaves on the ground." Continue reading →

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Attractively Priced Real Estate, Courtesy of Pablo Escobar

"Colombia's economy has prospered: GDP growth has been strong; the average Colombian's income has doubled in less than a decade; and BusinessWeek even called Colombia 'the most extreme emerging market on Earth' in 2007. And the residential neighborhoods are keeping pace, too – they're dotted with cafés and restaurants that would rival those in European cities. As should be clear by now, there's a stark contrast between the perception of Colombia and its reality. While the country isn't perfect and drugs are still a problem, they are only a fraction of the problem they were 20 years ago. Though few are talking about it, Colombia is up and coming." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAttractively Priced Real Estate, Courtesy of Pablo Escobar

The FBI is allowed to operate in Canada

"Since the 1980s, the FBI says agents have been deployed hundreds of times around the world to investigate foreign crimes targeting US citizens, including to Athens, Greece in 2007 when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired into the US Embassy. The US and Greece aren’t adjacent, of course, and US authorities are less likely to be asked to intervene there than Canada, where both North American nations share more than 5,000 miles of border. And as the threat of terrorist attacks remains present and a desire for these units to team up grows too, new rules would ensure that it’s more than just the FBI that’s regularly racing back and forth across the border." Continue reading →

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Redacted FBI Documents Show Plot to Kill Occupy Leaders If ‘Deemed Necessary’

"When the Houston Police department was asked about its knowledge of the plot, public affairs officer Keith Smith said it 'hadn’t heard about it' and directed future questions to the Houston FBI office. The obvious question to ask in attempting to determine the identities of the planners is this: Who has sniper training? A number of Texas law enforcement organizations received special training from Dallas-based mercenary company Craft International, which has a contract for training services with Homeland Security. The company was founded by a celebrated Army sniper who was killed by a combat veteran he accompanied to a shooting range." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRedacted FBI Documents Show Plot to Kill Occupy Leaders If ‘Deemed Necessary’