Animal Farm

After the whistle: Revealers of government secrets share how their lives have changed

"The former high-ranking National Security Agency analyst now sells iPhones. The top intelligence officer at the CIA lives in a motor home outside Yellowstone National Park and spends his days fly-fishing for trout. The FBI translator fled Washington for the West Coast. This is what life looks like for some after revealing government secrets. Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing, according to those who did it. Jeopardizing national security, according to the government. A look at the lives of a handful of those who did just that shows that they often wind up far from the stable government jobs they held. They can even wind up in the aisles of a craft store." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfter the whistle: Revealers of government secrets share how their lives have changed

The Financial System Doesn’t Just Enable Theft, It Is Theft

"Needless to say, those with access to leveraged credit and the issuance of fiat money have the power to make claims on resources without actually having produced anything of value or earned tangible forms of wealth. Those with political power and wealth naturally have monopolies on the issuance of credit and paper money, as these enable the acquisition of real wealth without actually having to produce or earn the wealth. This system is intrinsically unstable, as the financial claims of credit and fiat money on limited real-world resources and wealth eventually exceed real-world resources, and the system of claims collapses in a heap." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Financial System Doesn’t Just Enable Theft, It Is Theft

Disturbing Video Shows Court Officer Sexually Assaulting, Then Arresting Mother, Judge Does Nothing

"The initial events took place in 2011, when Monica Contreras was led from the court into a waiting room for a supposed, though unexplained, drug search. She then says a court marshal named Ron Fox touched her and ordered her to lift up her shirt. When she fled back into the courtroom and complained to the hearing master, asking at least for a female marshal, Fox had her arrested for 'making false accusations against a police officer.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDisturbing Video Shows Court Officer Sexually Assaulting, Then Arresting Mother, Judge Does Nothing

Newly leaked NSA program sees ‘nearly everything’ you do

"The Guardian, which obtained slides of a NSA employee presentation, claims that the program is the 'widest-reaching' intelligence system. According to Snowden's files on X-Keyscore, NSA employees can, with just a few clicks, obtain everything from phone numbers to e-mail addresses. The agency also can see e-mail content, full Internet activity, browser history, and an IP address. According to the files and Snowden, the NSA can essentially see everything a person is doing on the Internet without the need for a warrant. Debate rages over whether such information is accessible and is being used in any negative ways by the U.S. government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNewly leaked NSA program sees ‘nearly everything’ you do

Colorado Cops Cleared In Photo Radar Ticket Prank

"Gerlach went to Chafin's home and there was no answer when he knocked. Gerlach peeked in the garage and found Chafin's cars were there. When he ran the plates, he realized Chafin was a Denver officer. He immediately called his sergeant, who arrived at the scene with his captain. This resulted in 'half the department' being dispatched to the home. They were preparing to batter down Chafin's front door when Parker officers checked with a supervisor at the Denver police department, who made a few phone calls and put a stop to what was happening. The Denver police department fired them for lying, but the commission reversed the decision." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado Cops Cleared In Photo Radar Ticket Prank

Oakland to ban hammers, wrenches, tripods, walking canes, shields and other ‘tools of vandalism’ during ‘protests’

"The city of Oakland, California now wants to ban any object that could be used as a 'tool of vandalism,' including hammers, wrenches, slingshots, shields and presumably anything else with a blunt edge such as garden rakes or sticks. It's all part of Oakland's response to recent protests in which angry mobs of people caused significant damage to local businesses (because angry mobs tend to loot and burn their own neighborhoods first). The city claims these objects will be illegal to possess during a 'protest,' but there is no official definition of a 'protest,' meaning the police can invoke the ordinance any time they wish." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOakland to ban hammers, wrenches, tripods, walking canes, shields and other ‘tools of vandalism’ during ‘protests’

Manning Show Trial Exposes the Fraud of Representative Democracy

"The U.S. government fears an informed American people, and an informed world public opinion, far more than it ever feared al Qaeda. What we’ve called 'representative democracy,' since the rise of universal suffrage in the West a century or so ago, has been an elaborate exercise in securing the outcome desired by ruling elites — preserving an intersecting alliance of corporate and state oligarchies — while maintaining the fiction of popular rule. Manning committed the one unforgivable sin in a sham representative democracy: He let the 'sovereign' people in on what 'their' government is really doing, and whose interests it’s really serving." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingManning Show Trial Exposes the Fraud of Representative Democracy

DEA agrees to pay $4.1 milllion to student they locked in a cell for days

"A San Diego, California college student was awarded $4.1 million in a settlement with the federal government on Tuesday, ending his lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for leaving him in a holding cell for five days with no food or water in April 2012. KNSD-TV reported that no criminal charges will be brought against the officers involved in the incident, which began when the victim, 24-year-old Daniel Chong, was taken to a DEA office following a raid by a task force made up of DEA, state and local officers on a '420' party Chong attended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA agrees to pay $4.1 milllion to student they locked in a cell for days

A new, dangerous job in Mogadishu: tax collector

"Militias extorted cash from civilians during much of the last two decades of chaos. Now Mogadishu has a government in place, but shopkeepers view the taxman as the latest in a long line of troublemakers. That makes tax collection one of the riskier jobs in Mogadishu: Five tax collectors have been killed so far this year, following the killings of 10 last year. The idea of paying taxes for social services seems outlandish in a nation where few have seen functioning hospitals or schools. One obstacle tax collectors face is philosophical: If it's an established fact that government leaders in Somalia steal tax money, why should citizens pay?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA new, dangerous job in Mogadishu: tax collector

Abuse at Ecuadorian ‘gay conversion’ drug rehabs shocks authorities

"The country of 15.8 million people has at least 80 unlicensed drug and alcohol rehab clinics, many that are also used for anti-gay conversion therapy, Health Minister Carina Vance, who is openly gay, said. Two people died last year at the clandestine centers, she told foreign reporters. Authorities say the inhumane practice is a wide-ranging problem that has ensnared even government officials — such as the health ministry official who was recently the subject of a criminal complaint after it emerged she owned a clandestine clinic offering therapy against homosexuality. Ecuadoran law authorizes forced treatment for addicts with approval from a judge." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAbuse at Ecuadorian ‘gay conversion’ drug rehabs shocks authorities