UN investigator: Obama must release details of Bush kidnapping and torture program

"Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, will release a new report on Tuesday detailing his findings about the Bush-era program, according to Reuters. The report was not published online ahead of a planned hearing set for Tuesday, and a spokesperson was unavailable for comment. He added that there is 'credible evidence' that the CIA under the Bush administration had 'black sites' in Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania and Romania. Emmerson’s report is expected to urge lawmakers in those countries to fully investigate the matter and prosecute former officials if necessary." Continue reading

Continue ReadingUN investigator: Obama must release details of Bush kidnapping and torture program

Nigel Farage’s ‘Fruitcakes, Loonies & Closet Racists’ Libertarian UKIP knocks down Tories into third

"The British Conservative party has for the first time been pushed into third place in a by-election in the town of Eastleigh, by a party David Cameron dubbed 'fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists.' The UKIP (the UK Independence Party) strongly opposes immigration, and advocates for the UK to leave the European Union. In the Eastleigh vote, the Lib Dem Party polled at 13,342 votes, UKIP at 11,571, the Conservatives at 10,559 and Labour at 4,088. UKIP took almost 28 percent of the vote, one of their best-ever results in a British parliamentary election." Continue reading

Continue ReadingNigel Farage’s ‘Fruitcakes, Loonies & Closet Racists’ Libertarian UKIP knocks down Tories into third

More Redflex Executives Fall Over Red Light Camera Bribery Scandal

"According to the inquiry conducted by the law firm Sidley Austin, a consultant was paid $2 million between 2003 and 2012 for his work in landing the nation's most lucrative photo ticketing contract. Redflex sent a city contracting official on 17 different trips between 2003 and 2010, paying for everything including hotels, flights, car rentals, golfing, meals and a computer worth a total of $20,000. So far, the company has also spent $1.2 million in legal fees related to the Chicago scandal. When Chicago's red light camera contract expires, Redflex will lose another 13.6 percent of its income. The company also warns of the possibility of bribery revelations in other cities." Continue reading

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“The TSA Blues”

"It seems Eric Clapton is as disgusted with the sexual assault and irradiation at the airports as the rest of us. He announced plans to boycott aviation in an interview with Rolling Stone and specifically blamed the TSA's 'security' sham: '...for me, the struggle is the travel. And the only way you can beat that is by throwing so much money at it that you make a loss. So ... [w]hen I'm 70, I'll stop. I won't stop playing or doing one-offs, but I'll stop touring, I think. ... And security. I never get it right. I forget to take off my belt, or I have change in my pocket. Next thing I know, 'Can you come over here please?' I just don't want to do that anymore.'" Continue reading

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Homeland Security Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile

"According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. DHS also purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAP)." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHomeland Security Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile

NYPD lied under oath to prosecute Occupy activist

"An Occupy Wall Street activist was acquitted Thursday after jurors were presented with video evidence that directly contradicted the NYPD’s story. Prosecutors working on behalf of the NYPD have insisted that Premo tackled an NYPD officer and broke a bone during a protest. This week, Premo’s attorney presented a video that showed officers charging into the defendant unprovoked. The video shows a NYPD officer was filming the arrest as well, but prosecutors told Premo’s attorney that no such footage existed. The Manhattan District Attorney's office had presented Premo with a deal that would have let him off the hook by pleading guilty to lesser charges." Continue reading

Continue ReadingNYPD lied under oath to prosecute Occupy activist

How to become a drone target

"The government apparently calls such attacks signature strikes because the targets are identified based on intelligence 'signatures' that suggest involvement in terror plots or militant activity. So what signatures does the U.S. look for and how much evidence is needed to justify a strike? The Obama administration has never spoken publicly about signature strikes. Instead, generally anonymous officials have offered often vague examples of signatures. The resulting fragmentary picture leaves many questions unanswered." Continue reading

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Homelanders propose more tax hikes on U.S. Persons abroad

"February saw a massive number of legislative attacks on American emigrants and their children by ignorant or malign (un)Representatives which are only now coming to light as the Government Printing Office finishes typesetting and publishing the hundreds of pages of proposed laws. We’ve already discussed the various recent bipartisan attempts to repeal the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, but another frequent theme is increasing the tax and compliance burdens on so-called 'Controlled Foreign Corporation owners' and 'outsourcers', including people who have lived outside the U.S. all their lives but got the inherited genetic disease of U.S. citizenship from their parents." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHomelanders propose more tax hikes on U.S. Persons abroad

The Early Stages of ObamaCare

"Here is a great talk given at The 21 Convention in 2012, by Doug McGuff, MD, a prominent member of the ancestral health (paleo-primal) community: 'Fitness, Health, and Liberty.' This is an important presentation because Doug presents the historical picture on how the physician-patient relationship went from a fiduciary relationship between provider and consumer to a 3rd party morass of collectivized medicine that sacrificed individual services to the needs of the masses in general in order to conform to the rules outlined by the medical establishment-insurance industry alliance." Continue reading

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So You Want To Short The Student Loan Bubble? Now You Can

"SecondMarket Holdings, the private-market securities trading firm best known for allowing numerous overzealous fans to buy FaceBook at moronic valuations, on Monday 'will roll out a platform allowing lenders to issue securities backed by student loans directly to investors.' Why is SecondMarket doing this? The same reason Lloyd Blankfein was selling Abacus (and all those other synthetic MBS CDOs) to clueless yield chasers all across Europe and Asia: yield chasing and career risk. The justification is also the same: making a market." Continue reading

Continue ReadingSo You Want To Short The Student Loan Bubble? Now You Can