Land Of The Flea

Mike Gogulski: Is America still a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!

"If you look at the visible signs of how the country has been developing for the last 25 years, the signs of the emergence of a police state are obvious and everywhere. The Department of Homeland Security recently purchased something like one billion rounds of high-powered rifle ammunition. These are not to be used in wars. The US government has just purchased three bullets for every man, woman and child inside the country. When you add to these things the endless American wars that have been going on since 'peace' after World War II, the question becomes: 'Is America a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMike Gogulski: Is America still a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!

Oppose War with Syria

"The war-making power belongs solely to Congress. It cannot be delegated to the Executive Branch, in any blanket way, through any kind of war powers act. If you fail to restrain the President, then you will be complicit in the President’s crimes. His planned actions violate the Constitution. They also break other written laws. This makes them inherently criminal. The President is trying to fix something that cannot be solved by outsiders dropping bombs. This will not protect innocent people. It will kill innocents. Their blood will be on the President’s hands, and on your hands, unless you use your powers to resist. I am doing what I can to resist. I do not want these criminal acts committed in my name." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOppose War with Syria

Obamacare is About to Get More Personal

"Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and a dozen other state attorneys general asked U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to implement more stringent privacy requirements and safeguards on these so-called navigators. Who is in charge of monitoring these navigators? Who will be liable if someone’s identity is stolen? And who is responsible for alerting the American public about fraud prevention? Bondi said that the HHS is making it easier for your private information to fall into the wrong hands by cutting back on employee background checks and eliminating a fingerprinting requirement for navigators and those that work with them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare is About to Get More Personal

Obama executive order to kill 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program

"The Civilian Marksmanship Program was administered by the United States Army from 1916 through 1996 when it was changed to the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice & Firearms Safety, a 501(c) (3) organization federally chartered by the U.S. Congress. There are no data indicating any of the weapons involved in homicide were imported surplus military rifles. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s homicide crime statistics, rifles accounted for only 323 deaths out of 12,664 homicides in 2011, the most recent data set provided by the FBI. The rifles that the Executive Order would affect are typically from U.S. allies and are pre-Vietnam era." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama executive order to kill 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program

Family Farmers Fight Michigan Township For Their Animals

"Kelly Vander Kley Hunter and her family have spent the last three years pouring their time and money into building a small hobby farm in Mattawan, MI. Roughly a three hour drive from Detroit, Mattawan is a rural community that is home to many small farms with many farm animals. Yet Vander Kley Hunter had still checked before purchasing the property to make sure that having animals would be all right, and the township confirmed that farm animals were indeed allowed. But earlier this summer, the Hunters received a letter stating that their farm was no longer in compliance with the township zoning ordinance and that they had 90 days to get rid of more than half of their animals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFamily Farmers Fight Michigan Township For Their Animals

New Orleans Police Officer Jailed for 2012 Drug War Killing

"A New Orleans police officer who gunned down an unarmed 20-year-old man during a 2012 drug raid pleaded guilty to manslaughter last Friday and was led off to begin serving a four-year prison sentence. Joshua Colclough, 29, who resigned from the force the previous day, apologized to the family of his victim, Wendell Allen, before he was led away. Colclough was part of a police team that raided a Gentilly home in March 2012 as part of a marijuana investigation. A shirtless, unarmed Allen appeared at the top of the stairs as Colclough searched the house, and Colclough shot and killed him. Defense attorney Claude Kelly said Colclough made a split-second decision." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Orleans Police Officer Jailed for 2012 Drug War Killing

DEA Must Pay $3 Million in 2010 Killing of LA Teen

"A federal judge Tuesday awarded $3 million to the family of an 18-year-old Los Angeles honors student who was gunned down by undercover DEA agents in a parking garage in 2010. But the judge also ruled the officers were not negligent in their actions. Officers claimed that Champommier's vehicle struck a deputy as he attempted to leave the scene. Officers opened fire, killing the 18-year-old honor student and 'band geek.' Both the DEA and the LA County Sheriff's Department said the shooting was justifiable because Champommier had tried to run down an officer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA Must Pay $3 Million in 2010 Killing of LA Teen

The NSA and Its “Compliance Problems”

"For ordinary citizens, 'compliance problems' with the law are better known as 'crimes' (or possibly civil wrongs) and these lead to judgment debts, fines, and possibly even jail time, depending on the severity of the lack-of-compliance. But for government officials such notions are irrelevant — legal compliance problems are just something you file a report about, and send to another bureaucrat higher up in the government chain, so that he can bury it on his desk. Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The notion of the rule of law is the wellspring of an endless stream of hypocrisy in the modern social-democratic welfare-warfare state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe NSA and Its “Compliance Problems”

James Clapper Says Feds Will Start Releasing Some FISA And NSL Metadata

"For what it's worth this is a step forward -- and something the government should have done ages ago, but perhaps not nearly as big as Clapper would like everyone to believe. Note that they only say they'll reveal the number of 'targets' rather than people impacted. Given that each person "targeted" may lead to scooping up records on many, many others, this seems fairly weak. Remember, for a 'target' they can scoop up all kinds of records, and then go three hops deep. So, one target could impact thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of people. This is a baby step forward, but it still seems designed to mislead." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Clapper Says Feds Will Start Releasing Some FISA And NSL Metadata

Fidel Castro denies Cuba refused Edward Snowden asylum

"Castro, in the same article, praised Snowden, who disclosed the existence of secret US government surveillance programs used to scoop phone and Internet data on a vast scale. 'I admire how brave and just Snowden’s declarations were, which in my opinion provided a service to the world by revealing the disgustingly dishonest politics of the powerful empire that lies and deceives the world,' Castro wrote. 'It is absolutely clear that the United States will always try to put pressure on Cuba as it does with the UN or any public or private institution in the world, that is one of the characteristics of that country’s government and it would not be possible to expect anything else.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFidel Castro denies Cuba refused Edward Snowden asylum