Alternative News

Hacker Who Exposed Steubenville Rape Case Could Spend More Time Behind Bars Than The Rapists

"The case gained national attention after the 'hacktivist' group Anonymous leaked significant social media evidence implicating the assailants — including tweets, Instagram photos, and a 12-minute video of Steubenville high schoolers joking about the rape. But it turns out that working to expose those rapists may land one Anonymous hacker more time in prison than the rapists themselves will serve. As Mother Jones reports, 26-year-old Deric Lostutter — who has been known as 'KYAnonymous' throughout his role in the Steubenville rape case — could face up to 10 years of jail time if he’s convicted of hacking-related crimes. The FBI raided Losuetter’s home in April." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHacker Who Exposed Steubenville Rape Case Could Spend More Time Behind Bars Than The Rapists

Has Switzerland Really Caved to US Pressure?

"It is important to note that whilst Swiss bank secrecy is already being counted out by mainstream media across the board, the fact is that in Switzerland the resistance to losses of privacy and other fundamental rights based on demands by foreign nations is growing. More and more Swiss, in government and the Swiss Parliament too, are fed up with the pressures emanating from neighboring states and the US, all based on those countries' dismal fiscal situations and overly zealous hunt for tax revenue. Against this backdrop, an initiative was just launched by some Swiss right-wing political parties that would make bank secrecy a constitutional right." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHas Switzerland Really Caved to US Pressure?

Middletown CT Police Don’t Obey The 4th Amendment

"This is a film of my encounter with the Middletown CT Police Department on June 5th, 2013. Officer Peck illegally detained me without Reasonable Articulable Suspicion that I had committed or would commit a crime, as required by the Constitution (See: Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)). Officer Peck then lied to me and told me that filming the police department building and parking lot was a crime. Eventually the officers gave up on detaining me since I was doing nothing wrong." Continue reading →

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How Our Right To Travel Became a Bureaucratic Ordeal

"Last week, my vacationing family was stopped at not one, but two, internal checkpoints along Interstate 8 in Arizona and California and questioned about our citizenship. As recently as eight years ago, I drove to and from a house rental in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, with no identification beyond my driver's license. Since 2009, though, a passport or similar document has been required to cross back into the United States from anywhere. Nominally an internationally recognized right, travel of all sorts has become creepingly bureaucratized in recent decades to an extent that has completely transformed the act of going from one place to another." Continue reading →

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India Central Bank Prohibits Sales Of Gold Coins By Banks

"Two weeks ago, with its current account getting crushed by relentless gold imports, India's finance minister Chidambaram literally begged the people to stop buying gold. Judging by the popular response, the ongoing physical shortage, and last night's increase in Indian gold import duties from 6% to 8%, appealing to people's feeling when it comes to the choice of fiat vs physical, has failed miserably. Per Reuters: 'The Reserve Bank of India has advised banks against selling gold coins to retail customers, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday, a day after he raised gold import duty to try to ease pressure on India's bloated current account deficit.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Central Bank Prohibits Sales Of Gold Coins By Banks

What Don’t We Understand at This Point About Economics and Unemployment?

"The employment-population ratio has barely changed in three years, showing that 58.6% of U.S. adults over age 16 had a job as of April. Forget the unemployment rate. The employment rate – the percentage of adult Americans who hold a job – has barely budged in the past three years. It's hovering near its lowest level in three decades, and it's unlikely to improve when the Labor Department releases its May jobs report on Friday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Don’t We Understand at This Point About Economics and Unemployment?

U.S. States Push to Bring Back Gold Standard

"More than a dozen states have introduced laws to recognize gold as legal currency. If the bill gets the governor's signature, Arizona will be the second state to legally consider gold as legal tender. Supporters of going back to the gold standard say the system is preferable to the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke's monetary policies. On the 80th anniversary since the Gold Standard in the U.S. was abolished, RT Correspondent Liz Wahl reports on the rush get back to gold." Continue reading →

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Colorado Sheriffs Unite to Block ‘Unenforceable’ Gun Control Laws

"In the wake of the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country. But in recent months, an overwhelming 55 of the state’s 62 county sheriffs have joined a lawsuit aiming to block the measures. Sheriff Terry Maketa of El Paso County is one of the opposing sheriffs. Maketa says they believe the laws are unenforceable, but also violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. After explaining the tactics used to pass the bills that essentially 'eliminated all public input,' Maketa reiterated that it’s clearly an 'overreaching step' for politicians to claim law enforcement supports stricter gun control." Continue reading →

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Rand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

'The revelation that the NSA has secretly seized the call records of millions of Americans, without probable cause, represents an outrageous abuse of power and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. I have long argued that Congress must do more to restrict the Executive’s expansive law enforcement powers to seize private records of law-abiding Americans that are held by a third-party,' Sen. Paul said. 'The bill restores our Constitutional rights and declares that the Fourth Amendment shall not be construed to allow any agency of the United States government to search the phone records of Americans without a warrant based on probable cause.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

Glenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation

"They could easily enrich themselves by selling those documents for huge sums of money to foreign intelligence services. They could seek to harm the US government by acting at the direction of a foreign adversary and covertly pass those secrets to them. They could gratuitously expose the identity of covert agents. None of the whistleblowers persecuted by the Obama administration as part of its unprecedented attack on whistleblowers has done any of that: not one of them. They undertook great personal risk and sacrifice for one overarching reason: to make their fellow citizens aware of what their government is doing in the dark." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation