Land Of The Flea

Dead Souls of a Cultural Revolution

"What can be said for an NAACP that was lately demanding a Justice Department investigation of a rodeo clown running around a bull ring in rural Missouri in an Obama mask, but cannot find its voice to address a black-on-white atrocity in Middle America? When Trayvon Martin was shot to death in a murky incident in Sanford, Fla., Jesse Jackson rushed there to declare: 'Blacks are under attack. … Killing us is big business.' Trayvon was 'shot down in cold blood by a vigilante … murdered and martyred.' After Chris Lane’s cold-blooded murder, Jesse tweeted: This sort of thing is to be 'frowned upon.' Can the president not find his voice to speak to the parents of Chris Lane?" Continue reading →

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100+ complaints and only a demotion: What does it take to fire a bad cop?

"Sergeant Patrick 'K.C.' Saulet is a sergeant with the King County Sheriff’s Department in Washington. Throughout his years of service he has managed to rack up an outstanding 120 complaints against him for use of force, conduct unbecoming an officer and not treating people with courtesy. In comparison, the sergeant with the second most complaints has 23. Even though 20 allegations have proven true, it was finally an incident from December 2012 that got him demoted. A family mistakenly drove into an off limits area of a Seattle bus terminal while following their GPS. Saulet threatened the 2 adults with arrest and that he 'could take away your daughter' as well." Continue reading →

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School District Ends Policy Of Forcing Students To Kneel Down For Dismissal

"School district officials in San Bernardino County say they will discontinue a policy that required elementary school students to kneel down before being dismissed to class. Principal Dana Carter at Calimesa Elementary School had reportedly instituted the policy, which called for students at various times of the school day to kneel down on one knee and wait for the principal or another administrator to dismiss them, as a safety measure. Yucaipa Calimesa Unified School District Superintendent Cali Binks told KCAL9 the policy – which was described as 'positive behavior intervention' – will no longer be enforced at Calimesa Elementary after several parents spoke out against the practice." Continue reading →

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An ‘aporkalypse’ has Texas fighting losing battle against feral pig menace

"Dallas created a task force to tackle its pig problem and it is cooperating with affected neighbouring cities such as Arlington and Fort Worth. It is illegal for civilians to discharge a firearm inside Dallas’ city limits so the hogs must be caught and then slaughtered elsewhere. The number of feral hogs in Texas is predicted to grow by 16% annually, roughly doubling in five years. They already cause an estimated $52m in damage to the state’s agriculture industry each year. And they are becoming partial to the comforts of suburban life. A proposal allowing bow-hunters to shoot them and donate the meat to the homeless was rejected on safety grounds." Continue reading →

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125 shopping days left: Retailers start Xmas deals

"Even before the school bells are ringing for many families, retailers are sounding sleigh bells. Yes, that's right. With 120-plus shopping days left, stores are already talking up their holiday offers. You might not be feeling the time pressure yet, but retailers are. Success in the fourth quarter is often key to annual performance, and in tough economic times the competition for customer dollars is fierce, said Dave Cheatham, managing principal of Velocity Retail Group. 'Retailers are determined not to be left on the sidelines,' he said. 'They're reinventing the rules on how to do holiday shopping.'" Continue reading →

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Internet Giants Got Millions From Taxpayers to Cover PRISM Spying Costs

"Internet giants like Google and Yahoo received millions of dollars from the NSA to cover their surveillance under the PRISM program. These payments occurred after a federal court ruled that surveillance requests the companies handled under the PRISM program were unconstitutional. The document also shows the NSA was anxious to get certifications from the FISA Court to authorize surveillance beyond the possible expiration of the law that authorized that surveillance. The law was set to expire on December 31, 2012, but the NSA received authorizations under that law to continue its surveillance until September 23, 2013." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin and the New Fourth Estate: An Interview with Cop Block

"In a world where the flow of money can be so easily controlled by a government that has vested interests at odds with the good of the people, Bitcoin begins to show its true usefulness. Bitcoin was a lifeline to Wikileaks and may be a lifeline to Edward Snowden; and moving forward there is little doubt we will have to help other organizations and individuals who have transgressed the government in our name. I have recently had the pleasure of talking with Pete Eyre of Cop Block, an organization dedicated to exposing and reigning in the abuses of our state and local police forces. Cop Block accepts Bitcoin donations." Continue reading →

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Elon Musk condemns the ‘perversion of democracy’ in Texas

"Tesla sells its cars directly to consumers, but state law currently prohibits Tesla from operating its own a dealership. Car makers are not allowed to sell vehicles directly to the public in Texas, they must sell through independently-owned franchises. 'This happens all the time,' said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, which lobbied against the bill. 'Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.'" Continue reading →

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Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars

"Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans on opening 50 new Tesla stores in the next year. And taking a page from the Apple playbook, Musk is selling his product directly to consumers. No hard sell. No commission for employees. And uniform prices at every store. That’s a dig at the traditional middlemen in the car-buying experience: the car dealers. Musk wants to cut them out completely. So Musk is declaring war on car dealers, but car dealers are also declaring war on Musk. They have already successfully booted him out of Texas and there is anti-Tesla legislation pending in North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia." Continue reading →

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Homeland Studies

"Salt Lake Community College in Utah joins numerous other institutions of higher spending now offering an 'associate of applied science [sic for ‘baloney’] (A.A.S.) degree in “Homeland Security and Emergency Management.' Yes. Seems there is a correct way to grope a victim while stealing his iPad, and by gum, the instructors are gonna learn rookies to do it right. You won’t be surprised at this propaganda’s sponsors: 'the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, various medical institutions and other regional agencies and employers.'" Continue reading →

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