Homeland Stupidity

U.S. Jails More People Than Any Other Country

"The U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with Department of Justice data showing more than 2.2 million people are behind bars, equal to a city the size of Houston. With a rate of 730 people per 100,000, the U.S. jails a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country. The U.S. also leads the world in the number of prisons in operation at 4,575, more than four times the number of second- place Russia at 1,029. U.S. states spent $52 billion to construct and operate those prisons in 2011, more than quadruple the $12 billion spent in 1987, according to data from the Pew Center on the States." Continue reading →

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Government Bomb Plots

"If a private person undertook such a 'plot,' but called it off without carrying it out and then announced 'I meant it only as a joke,' wouldn't he face criminal prosecution nonetheless? Shouldn't the FBI agents involved in this make-believe 'plot' also be charged with a conspiracy to blow up a federal building? They were not only participants in the scheme, but its very instigators!" Continue reading →

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The John McKenna Case: Video Captures Baton Blows to University of Maryland Student

"The encounter between police officers and a University of Maryland student after a basketball game in 2010 lasted only 10 seconds, but how a jury interprets those moments, captured on video, will determine the fate of two veteran Prince George’s County police officers on trial this week. Ruddy, an assistant state’s attorney, urged jurors to hold the officers accountable in what he called an unprovoked beating of a skipping, singing student during a postgame celebration on the streets of College Park." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe John McKenna Case: Video Captures Baton Blows to University of Maryland Student

Beating of diabetic driver raises questions about N.J. State Police training

"He may have looked drunk or like he was on drugs, but doctors say these are classic symptoms of diabetic shock. Paramedics found Fried’s blood sugar was so low he could have suffered a coma, seized or died, according to State Police records. But two troopers took his erratic behavior for belligerence. They wrestled him down, hit him with a baton and arrested him, their reports said. The struggle was captured by a microphone on one of the troopers. On the tape, Fried can be heard screaming and telling troopers they are hurting his arm, while they yell at him to stop resisting." Continue reading →

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New York police brutally beat man for sleeping at synagogue

"A confrontation with New York police that was caught on video last week has Jewish community leaders in New York City outraged. When the officers attempted to force his exit from the building, ignoring his claims that he was allowed to be there, Halevy resisted. That’s when one of the officers flew into a rage, putting his fists up like a boxer and launching a flurry of punches. As the video rolled, Halevy sustained repeated blows from the male officer while a female officer stood by hitting him with a club, then pepper-spraying him. Finally, an upwards of 10 officers ran into the building to ensure the man could not resist any further, and he was taken away." Continue reading →

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Man attempts to blow up New York Fed with fake FBI bomb

"'Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure. The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences,' FBI Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan said in a statement. 'It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant’s ‘accomplices’ were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent. The FBI continues to place the highest priority on preventing acts of terrorism.'" Continue reading →

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Green Party candidate: Police handcuffed me to a chair for eight hours

"Stein criticized the group that organized the event, the Commission on Presidential Debates, which was put together as a joint effort by Democrats and Republicans to administer the debates after the League of Women Voters stepped out of that role in 1987. Stein said the two women were handcuffed the entire time they spent inside a facility specifically designed to hold protesters, even though they had only been charged with violations. She said a request for their release was denied because, she was told, authorities did not want them 'wandering around.'" Continue reading →

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The Politics of Fear in America: A Nation at War with Itself

"Turn on the TV or flip open the newspaper on any given day, and you will find yourself accosted by reports of government corruption, corporate malfeasance, militarized police and marauding SWAT teams. Yet even more dangerous than these violations of our basic rights is the language they are couched in—the language of fear. And, as John Whitehead says in this week's vodcast, the only thing which will improve our present condition is the taming of our fear." Continue reading →

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Obama Rep. Schultz on The NDAA and Secret Kill List

"Last night at the presidential debate at Hofstra University, Luke Rudkowski got a chance to talk to Obama's representative congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the Spin Room. The Spin room was full of spin as both Obama and Romney representative's dodged questions from WeAreChange after the debates." Continue reading →

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U.S. military judge: ‘Torture’ is not ‘relevant’ in Guantanamo cases

"Five alleged al-Qaeda conspirators accused of aiding the 9/11 hijackers all say they were tortured for years while in CIA custody, but sitting in a military courtroom on Monday, they all heard a judge insist that 'torture' is not 'relevant' to their cases. Critics of the Bush administration’s torture program have long argued that it could taint prosecutions with evidence obtained under duress, which is exactly what defense attorneys have argued on behalf of defendants Walid bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, and alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. military judge: ‘Torture’ is not ‘relevant’ in Guantanamo cases