Land Of The Flea

All-seeing eyes focus on the sea

"The center, operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, can track as many as 50,000 aircraft at any moment. Officials say the center has reduced illegal cross-border flights from thousands per year in the mid-1980s to a handful. Initially, the focus was on drug trafficking, but has expanded over the years to include human trafficking, the smuggling of counterfeit products, and terrorist activities. The center now is testing software that will allow similar scrutiny of maritime traffic. The system would provide a comprehensive view of marine vessels within 100 miles of the U.S. coastlines. The omniscient view allows for greater coordination of agencies that might respond to a potential emergency." Continue reading →

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I was a liberal mole at Fox News

"Each show had one person — be they anchor or producer or whoever — who was directly accountable to the Second Floor. That was the brilliance of the company’s power structure. One misconception that outsiders always had about the channel is that we’d sit around all morning planning how to distort the news that day. But there was never any centralized control like that. No 'marching orders,' as it were. Instead, it was more a decentralized, entrepreneurial approach. Each show was an autonomous unit. Each showrunner — who had not risen to their position by being stupid — knew exactly what was expected of them, knew what topics and guests would be acceptable." Continue reading →

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‘King Would’ve Marched on Obama’

"Executive Director of the Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford, sits down with us to revisit Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic March on Washington August 28, 1963, and how the Obama administration addresses its 50th anniversary. Marching in the streets for the right to vote, protestors were greeted by police with tear gas and dogs. That demonstration, led by Doctor Martin Luther King, happened fifty years ago this week. Its most famous moment came with the delivery of MLK's 'I Have a Dream Speech.'" Continue reading →

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Colorado man charged with two felonies for killing raccoons

"A 50-year-old Colorado man has reportedly confessed to authorities that he attacked a pair of raccoons in a bid for revenge for the death of his cat years ago. KCNC-TV reported on Tuesday that Richard Moller told police he suffered a 10-minute 'glitch' of anger on Monday that caused him to jump into a trash bin and use a piece of wood to hit the animals. He also reportedly said to officers that did not intend to use the nails protuding from the board to stab them, but instead wanted to cause 'blunt force trauma.' Though Moller faces two counts of felony animal cruelty, one of his co-workers at a Boulder, Colorado liquor store defended his character to KCNC, saying he was well-liked by customers." Continue reading →

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A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

"I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole." Continue reading →

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Our American Dream Has Become The World’s Nightmare.

"Shortly after the 2003 intervention into Iraq I remember viewing a TV interview with Noam Chomsky where he compared America's pre-emptive actions there with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. At the time I thought his language was over-the-top and quite disingenuous. America was not National Socialist Germany. But Chomsky was precisely and prophetically correct. Everything from the time of 9/11 has been propelling the United States into an authoritarian fascist state. Our American dream has become the world's nightmare. Where other nations once viewed us with emulation and envy, now it is with fear, loathing, and revulsion. We have become what our parents fought WWII against." Continue reading →

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Making the World the ‘Enemy’

"After 9/11, President George W. Bush turned to Civil War precedents to create military tribunals for trying alleged 'terrorists.' But in applying those draconian rules to a worldwide battlefield, he created the nightmarish potential for a global totalitarianism, as retired U.S. Army JAG officer Todd E. Pierce explains." Continue reading →

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The Dictatorial Power to Punish a Dictator

"Americans often forget the Constitution is the law that we the people have imposed on President Obama (and the rest of the federal government). The president expects us to obey his laws and punishes us severely when we don’t. Just ask any of the thousands of people serving long prison terms for violating federal drug laws. Why shouldn’t the president be required to obey our law, the law of the Constitution? Why should Obama be entitled to exercise dictatorial powers, even if it’s just to punish another dictator?" Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: Canada: Land of the Freer?

"With QuickBt, consumers are buying bitcoins and then transferring them to merchants. No harm, no real money exchange as traditionally defined, no sneaky financial trickery. It's just business, and the Canadian regulators have said: it's not our business. Meanwhile, just south of the border, regulators are putting the fear of government into every conceivable crypto-currency merchant. Congress is issuing warnings. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is exacting fees. The feds are driving services out of existence. It's so bad that Bitcoin advocates are reduced to Stockholm-like begging: 'Please regulate us as soon as possible.'" Continue reading →

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