bill of rights

Seattle Mayor Orders Police to Dismantle Its Drone Program After Protests

"In an amazing victory for privacy advocates and drone activists, yesterday, Seattle’s mayor ordered the city's police agency to cease trying use surveillance drones and dismantle its drone program. The police will return the two drones they previously purchased with a Department of Homeland Security grant to the manufacturer. In May of last year, we urged concerned citizens to take their complaints to their local governments, given Congress has been slow to act on any privacy legislation. The events of Seattle proves this strategy can work and should serve as a blueprint for local activism across the country." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSeattle Mayor Orders Police to Dismantle Its Drone Program After Protests

Crowd packs heat; Oak Harbor, WA backs down

"It's been three weeks since an Oak Harbor city councilmember started a national controversy by trying to kick out a wounded Army veteran who was legally carrying a weapon during a council meeting. Councilmember Rick Almberg then walked out. The council was met by 160 people Tuesday night, many who were packing heat. The city council eventually voted to overturn the ban, which the interim city attorney had told the members was unconstitutional. The council did not call for the resignation of fellow member Almberg, which a few people had called for." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrowd packs heat; Oak Harbor, WA backs down

Paul Craig Roberts: It Has Happened Here

"Some Americans claim that we have had police states during other wartimes and that once the war on terror is won, the police state will be dismantled. Others claim that government will be judicious in its use of the power and that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. These are reassurances from the deluded. The Bush/Obama police state is far more comprehensive than Lincoln’s, Wilson’s, or Roosevelt’s, and the war on terror is open-ended and is already three times longer than World War II. The Police State is acquiring 'squatter’s rights.' Moreover, the government needs the police state in order to protect itself from accountability." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: It Has Happened Here

Reality Check: President Obama’s Rules For Assassinating U.S. Citizens?

"It is a story that has made national headlines in the past twenty four hours but a story Reality Check has been telling you for nearly two years. NBC News obtained a copy of the Obama administration’s rules for assassinating U.S. citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReality Check: President Obama’s Rules For Assassinating U.S. Citizens?

Disarm the police, not the citizens

"Every response by law enforcement seems to resemble a wartime situation these days, something one would think that Americans would be concerned about. Yet, for a nation that was born with a suspicion of standing armies and that wouldn’t tolerate the existence of one during peacetime, virtually no one objects to the increasingly aggressive tactics of local, state and federal police, often acting jointly to address routine local crimes. One can already imagine the response by apologists for the all-powerful state. 'If that’s what it takes to keep our children safe, then it’s worth it.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDisarm the police, not the citizens

California Man Taken Down at Gunpoint for Photographing Airplanes

"Larry C. was two weeks into his new job at a software security company in Northern California when he was confronted by six armed police officers pointing guns at him within seconds after entering work Monday. 'They kept calling my name and ordering me to get down on the floor with my hands in the air,' Larry said in a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime Tuesday morning. 'I was thinking it was some weird training exercise.' But he realized it wasn’t a training exercise after the six Santa Clara police officers handcuffed him, marched him into a room and frisked him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia Man Taken Down at Gunpoint for Photographing Airplanes

Britons with data on Amazon, Apple and Google cloud servers in America can be snooped on in secret by U.S. government

"Britons who store their data on cloud-based servers in America could have all their files rooted through in secret by the U.S. government, it emerged today. Campaigners say a renewed piece of American legislation will allow federal agencies to spy on foreign nationals without warning. The U.S. government granted itself the right to snoop after its secret rubber-stamping of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This means anyone abroad using the internet storage facilities provided by American companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple, open themselves up to investigation by the federal authorities - while Americans are protected because of their constitution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritons with data on Amazon, Apple and Google cloud servers in America can be snooped on in secret by U.S. government

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

“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

"According to Clarence Dupnik – the craven, dim-witted functionary who presides over the Pima County Sheriff’s Office – about fifty SWAT raids of the kind that led to the murder of Jose Guerena occur within his jurisdiction every year, which is shocking. In Baltimore County, Chief Johnson’s Einsatzgruppen conduct more than 120 attacks of that kind annually, which are among the 1,600 military assaults carried out in Maryland each year, a figure that is genuinely horrifying. Gun-related violence by government-licensed killers is ubiquitous – and it is also a forbidden subject in the 'national conversation' our rulers have orchestrated for their benefit." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

"According to Clarence Dupnik – the craven, dim-witted functionary who presides over the Pima County Sheriff’s Office – about fifty SWAT raids of the kind that led to the murder of Jose Guerena occur within his jurisdiction every year, which is shocking. In Baltimore County, Chief Johnson’s Einsatzgruppen conduct more than 120 attacks of that kind annually, which are among the 1,600 military assaults carried out in Maryland each year, a figure that is genuinely horrifying. Gun-related violence by government-licensed killers is ubiquitous – and it is also a forbidden subject in the 'national conversation' our rulers have orchestrated for their benefit." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have