CLibertyC

Rand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

'The revelation that the NSA has secretly seized the call records of millions of Americans, without probable cause, represents an outrageous abuse of power and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. I have long argued that Congress must do more to restrict the Executive’s expansive law enforcement powers to seize private records of law-abiding Americans that are held by a third-party,' Sen. Paul said. 'The bill restores our Constitutional rights and declares that the Fourth Amendment shall not be construed to allow any agency of the United States government to search the phone records of Americans without a warrant based on probable cause.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

Glenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation

"They could easily enrich themselves by selling those documents for huge sums of money to foreign intelligence services. They could seek to harm the US government by acting at the direction of a foreign adversary and covertly pass those secrets to them. They could gratuitously expose the identity of covert agents. None of the whistleblowers persecuted by the Obama administration as part of its unprecedented attack on whistleblowers has done any of that: not one of them. They undertook great personal risk and sacrifice for one overarching reason: to make their fellow citizens aware of what their government is doing in the dark." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation

Texas Gun Sales Are Off the Charts

"Gander Mountain is opening four new stores in Texas. The company describes itself as a 'firearms super center.' Demand is high and growing. The stores are for outdoorsmen, but these days, indoorsmen are walking in the stores’ doors too. Texas is gun-friendly. The boom in ammunition sales shows no sign of tapering off. This marks a change in sentiment. Gun owners are responding to political threats in the Northeast, but in the West and South, there is no trace of gun control sentiment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas Gun Sales Are Off the Charts

Kansas Law: No More Government Money Promoting Gun Control

"The governor of Kansas has signed a law that prohibits local governments from using taxpayers’ money to promote gun control. They may not produce or distribute 'any kit, pamphlet, booklet, publication, electronic communication, radio, television or video presentation' that is related to gun control. They may not hire lobbyists, either. Gun control promoters say this is an infringement on their constitutional right to take money from taxpayers and then use this money to promote their own agendas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKansas Law: No More Government Money Promoting Gun Control

11 Year-Old Boy Suspended From School Because He Said ‘Gun’

"In a radio interview, Bruce Henkelman, the boy's father, claimed that a school bus driver overheard the boy use the word 'gun' and then took him to the principal. The boy was then questioned by both the principal and a Sherriff's deputy. Henkelman said that the school's principal, Darrel Prioleau, told him that '[W]ith what happened at Sandy Hook, if you say the word 'gun' in my school, you are going to get suspended for 10 days.' In a Monday interview with Washington, DC-based radio station WMAL, Henkelman claimed that the young boy was telling fellow students how he would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting if he had been there with a firearm." Continue reading →

Continue Reading11 Year-Old Boy Suspended From School Because He Said ‘Gun’

CIA didn’t always know who it was killing in drone strikes, classified documents show

"About one of every four of those killed by drones in Pakistan between Sept. 3, 2010, and Oct. 30, 2011, were classified as 'other militants,' the documents detail. The 'other militants' label was used when the CIA could not determine the affiliation of those killed, prompting questions about how the agency could conclude they were a threat to U.S. national security. The uncertainty appears to arise from the use of so-called 'signature' strikes to eliminate suspected terrorists -- picking targets based in part on their behavior and associates. A former White House official said the U.S. sometimes executes people based on 'circumstantial evidence.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA didn’t always know who it was killing in drone strikes, classified documents show

New leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more

"Just one day after disclosing the existence of a secret court order between the NSA and Verizon, The Guardian and The Washington Post both published secret presentation slides revealing the existence of a previously undisclosed massive surveillance program called PRISM. The program has the capability to collect data 'directly from the servers' of major American tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo. (Dropbox is said to be 'coming soon.') The newspapers describe the system as one giving the National Security Agency and the FBI direct access to a huge number of online commercial services." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more

Lies the IMF Tells

"The International Monetary Fund has published a scathing internal self-assessment of its bailout of Greece three years ago. It isn't pretty. The IMF underestimated the damage that fiscal austerity would do to the Greek economy in its earliest rescue of the nation in 2010. It was too slow to promote a write-down of the nation's debts to more sustainable levels. And it was compromised by a sometimes unwieldy partnership with major European institutions in what became known as the 'troika.' The IMF could have handled its 2010 bailout of Greece quite a bit better, a staff review found." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLies the IMF Tells