Homeland Stupidity

Putin was wrong: The exceptionalism of the United States is alive and real

"Exceptional can also mean exceptionally bad in some or all respects. And here I would like to enumerate a points on which I can easily affirm the concept of American exceptionalism: The United States enjoys the highest obesity rate among 28 major nations. This is due in large part because of the government sponsored carbohydrate bubble. The United States has killed thousands of people through unmanned drones; the ratio of innocent to terrorists is perhaps 50 to 1. The United States is running the biggest budget deficit and borrows over 40 cents for every dollar it spends. It must borrow more money to be able to claim that it is not a banana republic. [..]" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin was wrong: The exceptionalism of the United States is alive and real

800 U.S. police round up 129 gang suspects in Mexican Mafia raid

"About 800 local, state and federal law enforcement officers arrested 129 suspects indicted on a variety of murder, extortion, racketeering, drug and weapons charges in Orange County as part of 'Operation Smokin’ Aces.' Police said they seized 22 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.5 pounds of heroin and 3 pounds of cocaine, and the FBI said undercover officers purchased 38 handguns and 29 rifles in connection with the sweep. Investigators said members of the prison gang ordered assaults on 12 inmates, including one man whose head was stapled 20 times, in the Orange County Jail for failure to pay drug taxes." Continue reading →

Continue Reading800 U.S. police round up 129 gang suspects in Mexican Mafia raid

Former FBI agent pleads guilty to leaking secrets to the Associated Press

"In investigating the leak, authorities obtained two months of phone records of reporters and editors at AP at several offices, covering 20 separate phone lines, defense lawyers said. Although Obama had promised openness when he entered office, his administration has pursued an unprecedented crackdown on leaks from government employees, attempting more prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act than all previous administrations. John Kiriakou, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was charged with leaking secrets after he gave an interview to ABC television describing the use of water boarding in interrogations of terror suspects under the Bush administration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer FBI agent pleads guilty to leaking secrets to the Associated Press

‘Internet makes global snooping possible, but harder to hide’

"Alan Rusbridger keeps a memento of the most bizarre thing that’s happened to him during his journalism career. The Guardian editor carries a piece of the smashed MacBook circuit board destroyed at the order of British intelligence agents during their investigation into the newspaper’s reporting on the U.S government’s massive worldwide spying operations. 'I think it’s a rather sinister reminder of the intersection of states and journalism,' Rusbridger told Democracy Now on Monday." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Internet makes global snooping possible, but harder to hide’

30,000 people can access Ohio driver’s license database with no oversight

"Ohio allows thousands of police officers and court employees to access driver’s license images online without oversight, by far the nation’s most permissive system. A recent Cincinnati Enquirer/Gannett Ohio investigation found the state permits 30,000 law enforcement officers and others to search the image database, which Attorney General Mike DeWine admitted last month had been uploaded in June without telling the public or reviewing security protocols. The Republican attorney general said similar technology was used by law enforcement in more than half the U.S., but the Enquirer’s report showed the technology is far more limited elsewhere." Continue reading →

Continue Reading30,000 people can access Ohio driver’s license database with no oversight

Twelve years after 9/11, we still have no idea how to fight terrorism.

"The seven studies include among them 86 findings about the effectiveness of counterterrorism programs, and those findings are startling. Lum, Kennedy and Sherley report that the average effect of the programs examined was negative. That is, the intervention was found to increase terrorist incidents rather than reduce them. The results varied by the type of intervention, but not in a way that should give us any comfort about our strategy. It's scandalous that we spend billions every year on counterterrorism but barely spend any effort on evaluating whether what we're doing works." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwelve years after 9/11, we still have no idea how to fight terrorism.

Just Say the Magic Word

"When your government starts arbitrarily seizing skyscrapers, the time to start thinking about and devising an internationalization strategy was yesterday. If you have not already started, I'd suggest that it is high time to get going. This goes double for libertarians and anyone else who could one day become the government's next enemy du jour. All the government has to do is say the magic T-word, and poof: your rights, your assets, and even your life can be taken from you in an instant, without due process, and the vast majority of people will approve of it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJust Say the Magic Word

Woman sues US Airways for losing her husband’s ashes after TSA mishap

"Initially, Mrs O'Grady planned to take the urn on board with her, but was stopped by TSA agents who told her she wasn't allowed to bring the cardboard box containing his urn through security because 'it's contents were not a solid substance'. So she went back to the airline's front desk and put the box in her checked luggage. Because of that delay she nearly missed her flight as well. By the time she got to the gate, she was too late and the airline had already given up her seat. Mrs O'Grady had to buy a $500 first-class ticket just to stay on the same flight. But the real shocker happened after she arrived at her sister-in-law's house in Hull. She opened the bag and the box of ashes was gone." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWoman sues US Airways for losing her husband’s ashes after TSA mishap

French mother jailed for sending son to school in ‘I am a bomb’ shirt

"A French mother who sent her three-year-old son to school in a T-shirt reading 'I am a bomb' and 'Jihad, born on September 11' was given a suspended prison term Friday for defending crime. Bouchra Bagour said she had simply wanted to mark the birthday of her son — who is named Jihad and was born on September 11 — and had not intended any connection with the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001. On Friday, an appeal court in the southern city of Nimes fined Bagour 2,000 euros ($2,700) and giving her a suspended one-month jail term. Her brother Zeyad, who gave his nephew the T-shirt, was fined 4,000 euros and given a two-month suspended prison sentence." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench mother jailed for sending son to school in ‘I am a bomb’ shirt

FBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorists

"A newly released national poll shows that 48 percent of Americans either have some doubts about the official account of 9/11, or do not believe it at all.The FBI circular entitled 'Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Sleepers' says that people who should be 'considered suspicious' of possible involvement in 'terrorist activity' include those who hold the 'attitude' described as 'Conspiracy theories about Westerners.' The circular continues: 'e.g. (sic) the CIA arranged for 9/11 to legitimize the invasion of foreign lands.' Most recently, former Fox News anchorman Ben Swann has questioned the official 9/11 story." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorists