Alternative News

Greek Finance Minister Gets Bullet In The Mail

"Greece's finance minister was sent a bullet and a death threat from a group protesting home foreclosures, police officials said on Monday, in the latest incident to raise fears of growing political violence. The package was sent by a little-known group called 'Cretan Revolution', which warned the minister against any efforts to seize homes and evict homeowners, police sources said. The group sent similar letters to tax offices in Crete last week." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreek Finance Minister Gets Bullet In The Mail

Karl Rove: ‘God bless President Obama’ for killing U.S. citizen al-Awlaki

"Republican strategist Karl Rove ripped the media on Tuesday for attacking Bush administration officials who justified the use of torture. He also praised President Barack Obama for using drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens. The former Bush adviser said that officials like Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Jay Bybee and others were 'excoriated' and 'hounded' by liberals and the media. Yet the Obama administration has faced little criticism for justifying the use of drone strikes against U.S. citizens. Though Rove believed the 'cowardly' media was 'hypocritical' and 'callow,' he said he supported the President’s use of drones." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKarl Rove: ‘God bless President Obama’ for killing U.S. citizen al-Awlaki

Obama’s Tax Crackdown to Target Foreigners’ Accounts in US Banks

"The Obama administration may soon ask Congress for the power to require more disclosure by U.S. banks of information about foreign clients' accounts to those clients' home governments, as part of a crackdown on tax evasion, sources said. The information-sharing effort stems from a fight by the Treasury Department against offshore tax evasion under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, adopted in 2010 and set to begin taking effect at the end of 2013. At the heart of FATCA is a law requiring more disclosure by non-U.S. banks of information about Americans' accounts to the Internal Revenue Service." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s Tax Crackdown to Target Foreigners’ Accounts in US Banks

U.S. Prison Population Seeing “Unprecedented Increase”

"The research wing of the U.S. Congress is warning that three decades of 'historically unprecedented' build-up in the number of prisoners incarcerated in the United States have led to a level of overcrowding that is now 'taking a toll on the infrastructure' of the federal prison system. Over the past 30 years, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the federal prison population has jumped from 25,000 to 219,000 inmates, an increase of nearly 790 percent. Swollen by such figures, for years the United States has incarcerated far more people than any other country, today imprisoning some 716 people out of every 100,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Prison Population Seeing “Unprecedented Increase”

Post Office Refuses To Pay Traffic Camera Tickets

"The mailman who delivers traffic camera tickets does not have to pay them, according to the US Postal Service (USPS). Postal officials refuse to pay the citations it received in the mail from American Traffic Solutions (ATS), a for-profit company based in Arizona. USPS Senior Litigation Counsel Jennifer S. Breslin was defiant in a January 22 letter to ATS, citing the establishment of post offices in the Constitution and the principle that the independent government agency works within local laws and regulations 'when feasible.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPost Office Refuses To Pay Traffic Camera Tickets

City workers tow car after painting ‘handicapped parking’ markings around it

"In video posted to Facebook on Monday night, several workers are seen painting white lines around Hila Ben Baruch’s car and then adding a the universal symbol of a wheelchair behind the car to denote a disabled parking spot. Later in the video, a tow truck arrives to lift the car from its space and carries it away. 'While my car was parked in a [legal] blue-and-white spot, two municipal workers came by and signposted it as handicapped parking!' she wrote. 'In a heartbeat they repainted the curb, from blue and white to gray. That’s it. Simple.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCity workers tow car after painting ‘handicapped parking’ markings around it

Police now accompanying Smart Meter installations: Two homeowners arrested for saying NO

"Malia 'Kim' Bendis, one of the two, was charged with a pair of misdemeanors, the Tribune said - attempted eavesdropping and resisting a peace officer. The other woman, Jennifer Stahl, also received two citations - interfering with police and preventing access to customer premises. Again, your home is not your home in Naperville, apparently. Upon her release, Stahl said when she refused a smart meter for her home utility installers accompanied by cops cut a bicycle lock she had put on her fence before entering her backyard." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice now accompanying Smart Meter installations: Two homeowners arrested for saying NO

It’s Pretty Stunning How Many Billion-Dollar Startups There Are Now

"Venture capitalists and investors are continuing to pour money into startups. In fact, there is a vast number of startups that are worth billions, The New York Times' Quentin Hardy reports. 'An unprecedented number of high technology start-ups, easily 25 and possibly exceeding 40, are valued at $1 billion or more,' Hardy writes. 'Many employees are quietly getting rich, or at least building a big cushion against a crash, as they sell shares to outside investors.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt’s Pretty Stunning How Many Billion-Dollar Startups There Are Now

Majority Says the Federal Government Threatens Their Personal Rights

"As Barack Obama begins his second term in office, trust in the federal government remains mired near a historic low, while frustration with government remains high. And for the first time, a majority of the public says that the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,502 adults, finds that 53% think that the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms while 43% disagree." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMajority Says the Federal Government Threatens Their Personal Rights

Mandatory TSA Pat Downs At Super Bowl

"The Super Bowl’s designation as a level one National Special Security Event (NSSE) means that the spectacle is now an annual showcase for America’s post-9/11 descent into a security-obsessed police state, despite the fact that statistically, Americans are more likely to be killed by peanut allergies, bee stings and bath tubs than they are by terrorists. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also indicated that TSA 'screeners' would conduct at least some of the pat downs. Mobile gamma ray scanners will also be used to check truck deliveries just as they were last year at the Lucas Oil Stadium." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMandatory TSA Pat Downs At Super Bowl