Land Of The Flea

Drama: Yemen, Guantanamo Bay, Stamford, CT

"I commute to work in Stamford, CT. I take the Metro North almost daily. Today, in light of the 'terrorist' threat I was greeted with the Stamford Police and other law enforcement at the top of the escalator leading from the track. They were checking for traces of explosive material. Some people were being singled out to go through a swab test[...]. My co-worker who arrives later than I do told me he was singled out for a quick swab and when he complained he was told he 'better get used to it' and 'this is for our protection.'" Continue reading →

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Berkeley: What We Didn’t Know

"California investigative journalist Seth Rosenfeld adds significantly more in Subversives, which is based on some 300,000 pages of FBI documents, pried out of the resistant agency over more than two decades in a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. I thought I knew all that was going on, but it turns out there was much that none of us knew, from the fact that the FBI secretly jammed the walkie-talkies of monitors directing a huge 1965 anti-war march I covered to the agency’s decade-long vendetta against Clark Kerr, the man who was first chancellor at Berkeley and then president of the University of California system." Continue reading →

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How payday lenders pop back up even after states crack down

"The products reflect a basic fact: Many low-income borrowers are desperate enough to accept any terms. In a recent Pew Charitable Trusts survey, 37 percent of payday loan borrowers responded that they’d pay any price for a loan. In 2012, New Hampshire joined states like Georgia and Arizona that have banned triple-digit-rate payday loans but allow similarly structured triple-digit-rate auto-title loans. And as in Ohio, Texas lenders started defining themselves as credit repair organizations, which, under Texas law, can charge steep fees. Texas now has nearly 3,500 of such businesses, almost all of which are, effectively, high-cost lenders." Continue reading →

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Is Bitcoin Too Big for Government to Ignore?

"Forty-eight states require businesses to register as money service transmitters, which Brito said can be an onerous and expensive process. Bitcoin startup BTC Global estimates that $10 million or more is required for a business to reach total legal compliance in all 50 states. The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Texas and New York are among the states taking a hard look at regulations for virtual currencies as well as money transmission rules.The Journal said state regulations can be expensive, citing Texas’ policy requiring companies seeking a license to provide a surety bond of as much as $2 million." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: What does money represent?

"Higher wages do not get you anywhere if prices rise too. What you really need is higher productivity. How do you get that? You need to save money (rather than spend it) and invest in things that produce more...thus providing the profits necessary to pay more to the people who produce it. Really. Is that so difficult to understand? For the last 42 years, the feds have encouraged Americans to spend their money, rather than save it. And they've encouraged people to buy things made by foreigners, rather than make things themselves. This was the consequence (perhaps unintended) of Richard Nixon's pure paper money system." Continue reading →

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NEW Spying Scandal — Is This One the Last Straw?

"The DEA unit responsible for this program is a secret organization. It cannot be investigated by defense attorneys or called into court. Even the location of the Special Operations Division is classified. Now Your so-called 'representatives' promised you that the NSA only spies on those associated with foreign terrorists. They’ve insisted that there is no domestic aspect to this spying. You now know this to be untrue. It’s just one more lie. So let me ask you ... When will enough be enough ? At what point does our so-called government cease to be legitimate? At what point do we declare it to be a criminal entity?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNEW Spying Scandal — Is This One the Last Straw?

Is America Going to Hell in a Handbasket?

"While there is very little chance that an Islamic terrorist will ever have any effect on your life, there is a much greater chance that your life will be abused, molested, robbed, assaulted, terrorized or murdered by an American government official. And you 'progressives' out there are just as responsible for turning America into the current police state as are the conservatives and neocons, by the way. But the truth is still difficult for many people to handle. So, as America has reached Hell in a handbasket, people still would rather believe the myth that government is a 'necessary evil,' or that when it gets very, very bad, it can be 'reformed.'" Continue reading →

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Taken: The Use And Abuse Of Civil Forfeiture

"Hundreds of state and federal laws authorize forfeiture for cockfighting, drag racing, basement gambling, endangered-fish poaching, securities fraud, and countless other misdeeds. In general, you needn’t be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with 'probable cause' is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owner’s guilt or innocence." Continue reading →

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Senate edited Snowden’s Wikipedia page to change description from ‘dissident’ to ‘traitor’

"In a move sure to grind the gears of conspiracy theorists everywhere, a member of the US Senate recently edited Snowden’s Wikipedia page from describing him as a ‘dissident’ to a traitor, according to the entry’s changelog. The user’s IP address was quickly traced back to the US Senate. It is not clear if the person is an active Senator, a staffer or an intern, but the change certainly came from the Senate. The attempted edit, made August 2, was rejected by a moderator on the grounds it ‘seemed less than neutral,’ according to the posted rejection, which also listed the IP address and showed it was registered to the US Senate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenate edited Snowden’s Wikipedia page to change description from ‘dissident’ to ‘traitor’