CLibertyC

Ex-Senator: FBI hindered 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota Saudis

"Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has accused the FBI in court papers of having impeded Congress’s Joint Inquiry into 9/11 by withholding information about a Florida connection to the al-Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Graham said the FBI kept the 9/11 Commission in the dark, too. He said co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton and executive director Philip Zelikow all told him they were unaware of the FBI’s Sarasota investigation. Moreover, Graham stated that Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce, the Bureau’s second in command, personally intervened to block him from speaking with the special agent-in-charge of the Sarasota investigation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-Senator: FBI hindered 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota Saudis

Egyptian security forces open fire in dawn raid on praying pro-Morsi supporters, 42 dead

"At least 42 people were killed on Monday during an attack on supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi outside an elite army base in Cairo, a senior medical official said. 'The death toll is 42 dead and 322 wounded,' Ahmed al-Ansari, the deputy head of emergency services, told AFP. The Muslim Brotherhood, which has led pro-Morsi demonstrations, said 35 of its supporters were killed when police and troops fired at them while they were praying at dawn. Witnesses, including Brotherhood supporters at the scene, said the army fired only tear gas and warning shots and that 'thugs' in civilian clothes had carried out the deadly shooting." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgyptian security forces open fire in dawn raid on praying pro-Morsi supporters, 42 dead

Snowden fate in balance as Cuba backs asylum bid

"US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden won support from Cuba for his bid to seek asylum in Latin America as he began his third week in limbo at a Moscow airport on Monday. Cuba, a key transit point from Russia on the way to Latin America, supported the leaders of Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, who have offered the 30-year-old fugitive a possible lifeline as he remains marooned without documents in the transit area of a Moscow airport. Even if Snowden receives a new passport or travel document and manages to board a flight to Latin America, there are no guarantees that his plane would not be grounded once it reaches European airspace, analysts say." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden fate in balance as Cuba backs asylum bid

Two white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

"Two police officers in Texas have been fired after they were caught on video beating a woman who was being arrested for an unpaid traffic ticket. Video obtained from the Jasper Police Department shows Grissom pushing Diggles up against a wall before Officer Ryan Cunningham comes from behind and slams her head against a counter top. Diggles is then forced to the ground and dragged by her ankle into a nearby cell. 'The amount of force used was abominable,' attorney Cade Bernsen, who is representing Diggles, told Yahoo News. 'She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off… it was brutal.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

Rape and sexual assault run rampant in juvenile justice system: Justice Department survey

"Hundreds of teen-agers are raped or sexually assaulted during their stays in the country’s juvenile detention facilities, and many of them are victimized repeatedly, according to a U.S. Department of Justice survey. The teens are most often assaulted by staff members working at the facilities, and fully 20 percent of those victimized by the men and women charged with protecting and counseling them said they had been violated on more than 10 occasions. The Justice Department survey involved more than 8,500 boys and girls. In all, 1,720 of those surveyed reported being sexually assaulted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRape and sexual assault run rampant in juvenile justice system: Justice Department survey

Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval

"Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals. At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years - and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s. Federal and state laws ban inmate sterilizations if federal funds are used, reflecting concerns that prisoners might feel pressured to comply. California used state funds instead. The allegations echo those made nearly a half-century ago, when forced sterilizations of prisoners, the mentally ill and the poor were commonplace in California." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFemale inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval

Ron Paul on New Egyptian War: Americans Lose, Again

"Looking at the banners in the massive Egyptian protests last week, we saw many anti-American slogans. Likewise, the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that was deposed by the military last week was very critical of what it saw as US support for the coup. Why is it that all sides in this Egyptian civil war seem so angry with the United States? Because the United States has at one point or another supported each side, which means also that at some point the US has also opposed each side. It is the constant meddling in Egyptian affairs that has turned Egyptians against us, as we would resent foreign intervention in our own affairs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul on New Egyptian War: Americans Lose, Again

Government Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

"High-level American government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny. They’ve warned that the government is using information gained through mass surveillance in order to go after anyone they take a dislike to. And a lieutenant colonel for the Stasi East German’s – based upon his experience – agrees. You don’t have to obsess on the NSA’s high-tech spying to figure out what the government is doing. Instead of focusing on catching actual terrorists, police spy on Americans who criticize the government, or the big banks or the other power players." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

"For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and 'wiretaps without warrants,' he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.) In our own Technology Voters' Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: 'No.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

Book Review: Damn Right! Biography of Charlie Munger

"There are huge advantages for an individual to get into a position where you make a few great investments and just sit back and wait: You’re paying less to brokers. You’re listening to less nonsense. And if it works, the governmental tax system gives you an extra 1, 2 or 3 percentage points per annum compounded. And you think that most of you are going to get that much advantage by hiring investment counselors and paying them 1% to run around, incurring a lot of taxes on your behalf? Lots of luck." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBook Review: Damn Right! Biography of Charlie Munger