Land Of The Flea

FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes in one year

"The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year. Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations. USA TODAY asked the FBI for all of the reports it had prepared since 2006, but FBI officials said they could locate only one, which they released after redacting nearly all of the details." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes in one year

Thousands now using online gun sales to avoid background checks: report

"Online gun sales have become a haven for buyers looking to avoid background checks, leading gun safety advocates concerned they are becoming more of a problem than sales at private gun shows, according to a new report by a progressive think tank. Among the advertisements for more than 15,000 guns on the sales site Armslist, in 10 states where lawmakers voted against bills that would have required background checks for private gun sales were nearly 2,000 listings by people looking to buy their firearms privately. 'Nobody’s monitoring this,' Hatalsky told the Post. 'Nobody has any ability to stop these people who are looking for private sellers.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThousands now using online gun sales to avoid background checks: report

San Francisco still has a seedy heart

"The Tenderloin is a large turd – often a literal one – floating in the crystal punchbowl that is San Francisco. So why is it still here? Because the city wants it to be here. For decades, the Tenderloin has been carefully protected by the city and various non-profit organizations. It’s not that these officials, social workers, homeless advocates and low-cost housing activists want to maintain a zone of misrule, crime and filth in the heart of the city: it’s simply an inescapable consequence of their laudable commitment to defend society’s most vulnerable members. The result is, in effect, a protected urban wildlife zone, a Bottle City of Squalor." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSan Francisco still has a seedy heart

California governor Jerry Brown intervenes to delay threatened BART strike

"Brown’s letter said he took the action 'because the strike will significantly disrupt public transportation services and will endanger the public’s health, safety, and welfare.' San Francisco area residents had been bracing for a strike even as 11th-hour talks continued, with some sleeping at friends’ and relatives’ homes to be closer to jobs and making alternative travel arrangements. The unions gave a 72-hour notice on Thursday night of a possible strike by 2,400 workers on a rail system that carries 400,000 passengers a day and serves as a critical link in the San Francisco area’s transportation system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia governor Jerry Brown intervenes to delay threatened BART strike

America Is a Tax Haven…and That’s a Very Good Thing

"While there are many bad things about the American tax system (including pervasive double taxation and a very uncompetitive corporate tax system), one of few redeeming features of our tax system is that we are a tax haven. Not for Americans, of course, but it turns out we have some good rules for foreigners. I’ve already noted that Delaware is one of the world’s best tax havens because of its attractive incorporation policies, but we also have very attractive federal tax rules. Foreigners take advantage of these policies in ways that attract huge amounts of money to the American economy – more than $25 trillion according to the Commerce Department!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica Is a Tax Haven…and That’s a Very Good Thing

Graphic: How Just 6 Corps Own 90% of The Media

"One graphic really highlights just how tightly controlled the information we are delivered truly is — and how a total of only 6 corporations run the show. From Time Warner (CNN, HBO, TIME) to GE (NBC, Comcast), a whopping 6 corporations control 90% of the mainstream media within the United States. The amount of revenues from the tightly controlled mainstream media machine are enough to beat out Finland’s entire GDP, buy every NFL team 12 times, and fund the government bailout of General Motors 5 times." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGraphic: How Just 6 Corps Own 90% of The Media

The Financial Tale of Two Cities: Detroit and Chicago

"At State Data Lab, we calculate and report a metric called ‘Net Revenue’ for all 50 states. Net Revenue subtracts total reported net expenses from general revenue. It can inform whether a state is truly ‘balancing its budget,’ at least as far as reported results. Net revenue can also be calculated for cities. The chart above shows how net revenue in Detroit was persistently negative in the five years before its bankruptcy filing. The chart also shows an even more alarming trend for the city of Chicago. And those results can understate reality; they rely on the city’s financial reports, which do not include accumulating off-balance sheet retirement obligations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Financial Tale of Two Cities: Detroit and Chicago

The Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills

"Libya is no longer. Ditto Iraq. Afghanistan is not doing much better since Rome set up camp there. The Comitatus – 'the sprawling apparatus that encompasses the ministries of government, the lawyers, the diplomats, the adjutants, the messengers, the interpreters, the intellectuals' – refused to keep count of the casualties in the Iraq war. Likewise has 'Operation Enduring Freedom' in Afghanistan, still ongoing, been the direct and indirect cause of the deaths and displacement of many thousands of Afghan civilians. The latter-day Rome has mechanized the warfare state’s killing capabilities and has refined its propaganda wing to an art." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills

Fracking settlement puts permanent gag order on 7-year-old and 10-year-old

"A 10-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister have been forbidden from discussing fracking for the rest of their lives under the terms of a court settlement with several gas companies. According to Mother Jones, representatives of Range Resources Corporation — one of the gas companies named in the settlement — confirmed in court that both the parents and children of the Hallowich family are prohibited from discussing the health issues and environmental factors that drove the family to relocate from their farm in Mount Pleasant, PA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFracking settlement puts permanent gag order on 7-year-old and 10-year-old

Georgia Insurance Rates Spike Under Obamacare

"Health insurance rates in Georgia are rising by up to 198 percent under Obamacare, the Georgia Insurance Commissioner said in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday. 'Georgia consumers cannot afford these massive rate increases,' Hudgens wrote to Sebelius. For an average 25 year-old male, premiums are set to rise 85 to 198 percent within the exchanges, while for a 45 year-old male, premiums will rise 40 to 100 percent, Florence said. A 64 year-old male will pay 18 to 48 percent more under Obamacare’s regime." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeorgia Insurance Rates Spike Under Obamacare