Bankocracy

Ladar Levison’s Lesson

"Bureaucrats, inspectors, cops, and soldiers have guns. All of them, whether they realize it or not, have the power to damage and even ruin lives. When that happens, some maintain they're just following orders. Instead, I want them to have a crisis of conscience. I want them to learn Ladar Levison's lesson and declare, 'I don’t want to become complicit in crimes against the American people.' Right now, there’s a vast and growing body of evidence that the police are not here to protect and serve. They’re being given unlawful or immoral orders. Yet they’re NOT responding with Ladar Levison's words." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLadar Levison’s Lesson

ACLU: Secret program blacklists immigrants who are ‘perceived to be Muslim’

"The previously unknown programme, which began in 2008 under George W Bush to identify those with links to terrorism, has continued under President Obama to blacklist law-abiding applicants and profile Muslims as 'national security concerns'. Migrants who have travelled through or lived in areas of known terrorist activity, wired money back to their families, attended a mosque of interest to the FBI or even given a voluntary interview to the agency, can be labelled 'national security concerns', the report, published on Wednesday, says. The report suggests the FBI has used the Carrp rules to pressurise immigrants into becoming informants." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingACLU: Secret program blacklists immigrants who are ‘perceived to be Muslim’

Ron Paul supports Snowden and Manning in Larry King interview

"With Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in releasing sensitive military information to WikiLeaks and the US government's hunt for Edward Snowden for revealing the NSA's spying program, being a whistleblower isn't an easy task. As some people see the two individuals as traitors, some people believe that these leaks are essential to gaining full government transparency. In an interview with Larry King, former Congressman Ron Paul expresses his appreciation for the leaked information." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul supports Snowden and Manning in Larry King interview

NSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

"The National Security Agency spied on electronic communications between Americans in a program that was later scrapped after a judge ruled it illegal in 2011, US officials said Wednesday. The court’s opinions are usually top secret but the move to release the documents came amid a firestorm over revelations of sweeping surveillance operations, following bombshell disclosures from a former US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden. Officials said the court rulings had been declassified to better inform the public about how the eavesdropping programs are carried out, and that a mistake had occurred due to a technical problem." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released

"In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional. For over a year, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court's opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated 'the spirit of' federal law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released

Your identity will become “property of the U.S. government” under new rules

"Requirements in Senate Bill 744 for mandatory worker IDs and electronic verification remove the right of citizens to take employment and 'give' it back as a privilege only when proper proof is presented and the government agrees. Any citizen wanting to take a job would face the regulation that his or her digitized high-resolution passport or driver's license photo be collected and stored centrally in a Homeland Security database. The pictures in the national database would then need to be matched against the job applicant's government-issued 'enhanced' ID card, using a Homeland Security-mandated facial-recognition 'photo tool.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYour identity will become “property of the U.S. government” under new rules

Gun Owners Promote Open Carry With Demonstration In Fort Smith

"Gun advocates, who want to roll back certain restrictions on firearms, plan on holding a demonstration in Fort Smith on Saturday. Arkansas Carry is a nonprofit organization that supports gun owners, promotes the Second Amendment, and backs efforts to remove bans on the open carry of handguns in the state. Steve Jones is the chairman of the group. He says Act 746, which was passed by the legislature this year and went into effect last Friday, allows owners to openly carry guns in the state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Owners Promote Open Carry With Demonstration In Fort Smith

Tulsa Area Man Beaten, Left For Dead By OKC Police Officers

"The couple said the beating stemmed from an argument the two were having over lunch meat. As they were arguing, a group of three men stopped to intervene. Two of them were off-duty Oklahoma City police officers. Lewis said one of the men confronted him, 'aggressively started pushing me around, telling me he was a cop and that I was going to do what he said.' Lewis said the men charged him as he asked for names and badge numbers. 'They jumped on me,' Lewis said. 'Began sitting on top of me, punching me directly in the face, while another one in their party was saying, 'hold him under, just hold him under.' And they repeatedly did this.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTulsa Area Man Beaten, Left For Dead By OKC Police Officers

Phoenix Police “Help” a Man to Death

"There are circumstances in which people might be tempted to seek the help of police officers. If they do so, they should understand that police are neither trained to help, nor are they expected to. They are trained, equipped, and prepared to employ aggressive violence against anybody who doesn’t submit to them immediately and without reservation — including the people whom they are supposedly there to 'help.' This was memorably illustrated by the murder of Michael Ruiz, an emotionally disturbed father of two from Phoenix, Arizona, by the police who had arrived on the scene to 'help' him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPhoenix Police “Help” a Man to Death

Man dead after police called for help taser, choke & drag him down a staircase

"Michael Angel Ruiz had a history of drug addiction. On July 28, for reasons unknown, he climbed onto the roof of his apartment. Witnesses called the police to protect his safety. This turned out to have been a fatal decision. First they tased him several times on the roof. He finally complied and hopped down. Cops immediately swarmed him and put him in a choke-hold. He remained in a choke-hold for at least three minutes. Michael Ruiz, now fully restrained, was dragged down the concrete stairs on his face. They allowed his head to dangle and thump against every stair. Video shows him lifelessly suffering head trauma on the descent down the stair case." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan dead after police called for help taser, choke & drag him down a staircase