"Tim Draper filed his proposed 2018 ballot initiative on Friday asking voters to split California into three new states: Northern California, California and Southern California. 'The citizens of the whole state would be better served by three smaller state governments while preserving the historical boundaries of the various counties, cities, and towns,' Draper wrote in the initiative's statement of findings."
"In a stunning setback to federal prosecutors planning to try the Bundy family patriarch and two adult sons later this year, the jury acquitted Ricky Lovelien and Steven Stewart of all 10 charges, and delivered not-guilty findings on most charges against Scott Drexler and Eric Parker. More than 30 defendants' supporters in the courtroom broke into applause after Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Lovelien and Stewart freed immediately and set Wednesday morning hearings to decide if Parker and Drexler should remain jailed pending a government decision whether to seek a third trial."
"The YPG is not your typical ethnic or sectarian faction. Its fighters are loyal to an imprisoned guerrilla leader who was once a communist but now espouses the same kind of secular, feminist, anarcho-libertarianism as Noam Chomsky or the activists of Occupy Wall Street. The Kurds are implementing these ideals in Rojava, and that has attracted a ragtag legion of leftist internationals, like Belden, who have come from nearly every continent to help the YPG beat ISIS and establish an anarchist collective amid the rubble of the war – a 'stateless democracy' equally opposed to Islamic fundamentalism and capitalist modernity. They call it the Rojava Revolution, and they want you." Continue reading →
"Greeks awoke Monday to the stark reality of the country's accelerating crisis — shuttered banks and ATMs with little cash — hours after they voted resoundingly to reject more austerity measures in exchange for another bailout. The results — 61% voted 'no,' compared with 39% for 'yes' — left the bankrupt country's future in the European Union and its euro currency uncertain. Greece entered a second week of severe restrictions on financial transactions and faced the prospect of even limited amounts of cash drying out, with no prospect of an immediate infusion. Greece imposed the restrictions to stem a bank run after the vote was called and its bailout program expired." Continue reading →
"We're initiating a project called OccupyPeace.us. And it's based on three words: No foreign entanglements. Those are the three words spoken by the Founding Fathers of this country. We want to rebuild America and the way we want to do it is we're working to build an OccupyPeace movement based on no foreign entanglements and we're working to push the United States more in line with a direct democracy like Switzerland. You want to go to war? Let the people vote. You want a defense budget? Let the people vote on it. You want to bail out the banks? Let the people vote. If we can bank online we can vote online. It could be more open than any other system in the world." Continue reading →
"Switzerland’s central bank will scrap its annual payment to the government for 2013 after a gold-price decline caused a loss of 9 billion francs ($10 billion). Switzerland’s 26 cantons are the central bank’s biggest shareholders. Together with the government, they receive an annual payment of 1 billion francs if the distribution reserve isn’t negative after appropriation of profit. The SNB’s gold holdings are the target of a popular initiative that demands that at least 20 percent of the central bank’s assets be in the form of gold. The measure would also block the sale of such holdings and require all SNB gold to be located in Switzerland. The SNB is listed on the Zurich stock exchange." Continue reading →
"Alaska and Oregon may become the next states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, as early as next year some proponents say. But the big battle over marijuana prohibition will come in 2016 with the next presidential election. Although a slim majority of Americans support legalization, younger voters may vote for change in higher numbers than older generations, Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, says. That group, and others, plan to target state legislators in five states, including Rhode Island and Hawaii, to legalize the drug by 2017. UN drug control officials remain alarmed by challenges to marijuana prohibition in America, Germany, and Uruguay." Continue reading →
"Examples of training courses advertised by the CNOA include inflammatory titles such as 'The Eradication of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles' or 'Initial Contacts with Persons Claiming Protections Under California’s Medical Marijuana Laws and Statues.' Through the author’s own words, his article shows the institutional bias of the CNOA as an entity, and the author as an individual. It is this language that points to the perception that the narcotics officers are more interested in deliberately undermining the intent of the Compassionate Use Act by lumping all use as criminal in nature. This leads to subverting the law instead of fairly enforcing it." Continue reading →
"Though Redflex made $361,200 from operating the cameras in El Cajon, the city ended up losing $62,000 after ticket revenue was split with state and county governments. Money was not an issue in South Gate which also terminated its contract earlier this month. Officials predicted the program would make $75,763 in profit for the South Gate and $336,319 for Redflex out of the $5 million worth of tickets issued. After ten years, the city council decided to end the program based on public input. Cities have also recently been spooked by the Redflex bribery scandal in Chicago, Illinois that has already cut the Australian firm's profit in half." Continue reading →
"'Most armed; most free.' So the renowned Italian thinker and strategist Niccolo Machiavelli described the Swiss five centuries ago. Switzerland has long stayed behind its borders and observed armed neutrality, avoiding both world wars. But on voting days in the Alps, burly farmers come down from the mountains carrying their rifles, axes, and swords – reminders that Swiss independence was won and remains thanks to her people’s force of arms. Switzerland is the world’s oldest democracy, dating from 1291. Citizens vote directly in all major questions. The 26 Swiss cantons manage their own financial, judicial, and administrative affairs." Continue reading →