CLibertyC

Ninth Circuit Gives the A-OK For Warrantless Home Video Surveillance

"Can law enforcement enter your house and use a secret video camera to record the intimate details inside? On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unfortunately answered that question with 'yes.' On suspicion of nothing more than the benign misdemeanor of selling eagle feathers, the government got to intrude inside the home and record every intimate detail it could: books on a shelf, letters on a coffee table, pictures on a wall." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNinth Circuit Gives the A-OK For Warrantless Home Video Surveillance

Street artist whose mock ads claimed NYPD used spy drones is busted

"A street artist whose mock public service ads around the city claimed the NYPD used spy drones to monitor citizens was busted after outing himself in a website interview, authorities and sources said. Essam Attia, 29, was hit with 56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, grand larceny possession of stolen property and weapons possession for an unloaded .22-caliber revolver under his bed at his Manhattan apartment. Authorities said Attia planted dozens of ads in display cases around the city between Sept. 14 and 16. Many of them even used his artist signature, 'ESSAM.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStreet artist whose mock ads claimed NYPD used spy drones is busted

Anti-drone protesters knocked off course by broad restraining order

"Adams said that he has repeatedly been arrested as he attempted to deliver a letter to the base commander, Colonel Greg Semmel, and others accusing the government of war crimes. The order of protection, issued by Donald Benack, a judge in the Dewitt town court, Onondaga, New York, on 25 October, forbids the 17 activists from contacting Colonel Earl A. Evans. The activists, Adams said, had asked if the order meant they had to stay away from the weekly permitted protest across the road from the base. The response from law enforcement officers: if Evans found it 'irritating' then it did." Continue reading →

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Afghan Children Legitimate Targets, Says U.S. Lt. Col., As They Might Have “Hostile Intent”

"When the war gets to this level--whether or not we believe the Army's assertions that the kids it's killing in Afghanistan deserved it--it's time to rethink whether you are winning hearts and minds, nation rebuilding, or just involved in an endless insane game of blowing shit up and making people so mad they give you what you think is a legitimate excuse to keep blowing shit up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfghan Children Legitimate Targets, Says U.S. Lt. Col., As They Might Have “Hostile Intent”

Online sales tax to be added to National Defense Authorization Act

"This may be the last Christmas of online shopping without paying sales tax. A proposed online sales tax has been offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, much to the ire of opponents. The Marketplace Fairness Act, and its House counterpart the Marketplace Equity Act, seek to clarify, and arguably overturn, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that requires retailers to have a physical presence in a state in order to collect sales tax on goods." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOnline sales tax to be added to National Defense Authorization Act

Equality Under the Law

In failing to give due consideration to the proper role of government, both our nation and our state are sliding down the proverbial slope towards what?  Less prosperity, lower productivity, higher unemployment, losses of freedom, insurmountable public burdens of debt just to name a few of the maladies associated with impoverished society and to which we are precipitously headed.  A prime example of this failure was highlighted in this past Sunday’s New York Times, “Lines … Continue reading →

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TSA Creates New Watchlist Of Those Who Failed Pre-Check Applications

"The Federal Register for Monday, November 19, 2012, quietly advises that 'TSA also is creating and maintaining a watch list of individuals who are disqualified from eligibility from TSA Pre✓TM…' Millions of frequent flyers have applied to PreCheck in the hope of mitigating the abuse they suffer at the airport. But now, with breathtaking irony, the TSA discloses that anyone it rejects winds up on yet another of the police-state’s watchlists, his agony at the airport even worse than before." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTSA Creates New Watchlist Of Those Who Failed Pre-Check Applications

A Long-Distance Relationship With the I.R.S.

"Foreign financial institutions will be required to scour their records for signs that customers are American, like a U.S. address or phone number or instructions to transfer funds to a U.S. bank account. Anyone flagged in the search will be asked to provide proof of citizenship and/or residence status, and Americans will have to provide a Social Security number. Even with the penalties, Fatca is not expected to raise significant revenue for the U.S. Treasury; the Congressional Budget Office forecasts a take of $8.7 billion over 10 years. That is barely a rounding error in an annual budget of more than $3 trillion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Long-Distance Relationship With the I.R.S.