Homeland Stupidity

The history of the requirement that U.S. citizens use U.S. passports to travel

"This requirement traces its roots all the way back to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. However, it’s worth remembering two rather amusing facts about the law as it originally stood: it only required United States citizens to bear a 'valid passport' and not a 'valid United States passport', and it only applied in time of war or national emergency. In 1994, a 'technical amendment' added the requirement that the passport used by a U.S. citizen to enter the United States be a U.S. passport. The restriction that the harsh passport control laws would only apply in wartime was removed by the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1979." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe history of the requirement that U.S. citizens use U.S. passports to travel

Another Major Police Lie About the Boston Bomber Search

"They locked down major parts of Watertown, Massachusetts and conducted warrantless searches, yet police somehow skipped the street Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnev was on. Only later, did a private citizen discover him. Police originally said that Tsarnaev was captured outside the perimeter that police had set up to encircle Tsarnaev. It turns out that is a lie. Tsarnaev was found hiding by a private citizen only 8 blocks from where Tsarnaev and his brother initially engaged in a gun battle with police." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnother Major Police Lie About the Boston Bomber Search

SWAT team sent to home of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer

"A message sent to police in Montgomery County, Virginia on Saturday caused a SWAT team to descend upon a home owned by CNN host Wolf Blitzer, under the impression that someone at the residence had just been shot. The report turned out to not be true, and Blitzer was not home at the time. Police were already suspicious of the message when they arrived on the scene, the Post noted, having received a text message sent through a phone provider’s emergency relay service. The case is yet another instance of the growing trend known as 'swatting,' where authorities are called to someone’s home under false pretenses." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSWAT team sent to home of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer

U.S. Government Forbids Ammo-Making Equipment from China

"I just spoke to a good entrepreneurial friend. When he read about the ammo shortage he saw a business opportunity. He began researching what is involved in opening and operating ammo manufacturing. He found out that since he is not a felon he just needs a $30 license from the ATF. He contacted that department. He has waited over 2 weeks with no reply. In the meantime he found the manufacturing equipment in China. He contacted them. He heard back through their broker and was informed that just 3 days before, our government made it illegal to export that equipment to US citizens. I’ve not read anything about this in any news source." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Government Forbids Ammo-Making Equipment from China

GAO Now Investigating DHS Ammo Purchases

"The Government Accountability Office tells Whispers it is now investigating large ammunition purchases made by the Department of Homeland Security. Chuck Young, a spokesman for GAO, says the investigation of the purchases is 'just getting underway.' The congressional investigative agency is jumping into the fray just as legislation was introduced in both the Senate and the House to restrict the purchase of ammo by some government agencies (except the Department of Defense). The AMMO Act, introduced Friday, would prevent agencies from buying more ammunition if 'stockpiles' are greater than what they were in previous administrations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGAO Now Investigating DHS Ammo Purchases

Ron Paul: Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston

"The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself. What has been sadly forgotten in all the celebration of the capture of one suspect and the killing of his older brother is that the police state tactics in Boston did absolutely nothing to catch them. Actually, it very nearly gave the suspect a chance to make a getaway." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul: Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston

Spy, or pay up: FBI-backed bill would fine US firms for refusing wiretaps

"A US government task force is drafting FBI-backed legislation that would penalize companies like Google and Facebook for refusing to comply with wiretap orders, media report. In the new legislation being drafted by US law enforcement officials, refusal to cooperate with the FBI could cost a tech company tens of thousands of dollars in fines, the Washington Post quoted anonymous sources as saying. The fined company would be given 90 days to comply with wiretap orders. If the organization is unable or unwilling to turn over the communications requested by the wiretap, the penalty sum would double every day." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpy, or pay up: FBI-backed bill would fine US firms for refusing wiretaps

UK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq

"A businessman has been found guilty of a multimillion-pound fraud involving the sale of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and around the world. A jury at the Old Bailey found Jim McCormick, 57, from near Taunton, Somerset, guilty on three counts of fraud over a scam that included the sale of £55m of devices based on a novelty golfball finder to Iraq. They were installed at checkpoints in Baghdad through which car bombs and suicide bombers passed, killing hundreds of civilians. Last month they remained in use at checkpoints across the Iraqi capital. McCormick also sold the detectors to Niger, Syria, Mexico and a UN agency in Lebanon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq

Fred Reed: Terrorism in Boston

"The return on investment is phenomenal. For example, the attack on New York cost perhaps several hundred thousand dollars. Yet it drew the US into multiple drawn-out, losing wars costing hundreds of billions of dollars, and transformed America from a reasonably free country into a rapidly deepening Orwellian gloom. A tiny input, a stunningly large effect. If terrorism were a hedge fund, it would be the hottest buy on the planet. It is truly slick. The terrorists don’t do serious damage to the attacked country. They stimulate the victim society to damage itself." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFred Reed: Terrorism in Boston

Boston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official

"Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting. At the time of their marriage, Ruslan Tsarni was known as Ruslan Tsarnaev, the same last name as his nephews Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged bombers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBoston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official