Land Of The Flea

Two white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

"Two police officers in Texas have been fired after they were caught on video beating a woman who was being arrested for an unpaid traffic ticket. Video obtained from the Jasper Police Department shows Grissom pushing Diggles up against a wall before Officer Ryan Cunningham comes from behind and slams her head against a counter top. Diggles is then forced to the ground and dragged by her ankle into a nearby cell. 'The amount of force used was abominable,' attorney Cade Bernsen, who is representing Diggles, told Yahoo News. 'She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off… it was brutal.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

Rape and sexual assault run rampant in juvenile justice system: Justice Department survey

"Hundreds of teen-agers are raped or sexually assaulted during their stays in the country’s juvenile detention facilities, and many of them are victimized repeatedly, according to a U.S. Department of Justice survey. The teens are most often assaulted by staff members working at the facilities, and fully 20 percent of those victimized by the men and women charged with protecting and counseling them said they had been violated on more than 10 occasions. The Justice Department survey involved more than 8,500 boys and girls. In all, 1,720 of those surveyed reported being sexually assaulted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRape and sexual assault run rampant in juvenile justice system: Justice Department survey

Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval

"Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals. At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years - and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s. Federal and state laws ban inmate sterilizations if federal funds are used, reflecting concerns that prisoners might feel pressured to comply. California used state funds instead. The allegations echo those made nearly a half-century ago, when forced sterilizations of prisoners, the mentally ill and the poor were commonplace in California." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFemale inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval

Government Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

"High-level American government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny. They’ve warned that the government is using information gained through mass surveillance in order to go after anyone they take a dislike to. And a lieutenant colonel for the Stasi East German’s – based upon his experience – agrees. You don’t have to obsess on the NSA’s high-tech spying to figure out what the government is doing. Instead of focusing on catching actual terrorists, police spy on Americans who criticize the government, or the big banks or the other power players." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

"For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and 'wiretaps without warrants,' he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.) In our own Technology Voters' Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: 'No.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

U.S. bill would deny visas to known hackers

"A group of lawmakers proposed legislation Thursday that would deny US entry and freeze the assets of foreign nationals involved in hacking or cybercrimes targeting the United States. The Cyber Economic Espionage Accountability Act calls US authorities 'to bring more economic espionage criminal cases against offending foreign actors,' the lawmakers said in a statement. The bill would also ban foreigners participating in cyber crimes from getting visas to enter the United States. If they are US residents, their visa would be revoked and their financial assets frozen under the proposal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. bill would deny visas to known hackers

“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

"The Geneva-based international group says that the 2009 OVDP in particular was 'extremely prejudicial to Americans living overseas who sought to become compliant with their taxes due to errors or omissions under the OVDP. Believing they could come back into the system by simply filing the appropriate paperwork and paying any outstanding tax burden, these individuals were later told they would be hit with a standard penalty of 20% of the highest value of their bank accounts over a five-year period.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

"The Geneva-based international group says that the 2009 OVDP in particular was 'extremely prejudicial to Americans living overseas who sought to become compliant with their taxes due to errors or omissions under the OVDP. Believing they could come back into the system by simply filing the appropriate paperwork and paying any outstanding tax burden, these individuals were later told they would be hit with a standard penalty of 20% of the highest value of their bank accounts over a five-year period.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

"The Geneva-based international group says that the 2009 OVDP in particular was 'extremely prejudicial to Americans living overseas who sought to become compliant with their taxes due to errors or omissions under the OVDP. Believing they could come back into the system by simply filing the appropriate paperwork and paying any outstanding tax burden, these individuals were later told they would be hit with a standard penalty of 20% of the highest value of their bank accounts over a five-year period.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans

"The Geneva-based international group says that the 2009 OVDP in particular was 'extremely prejudicial to Americans living overseas who sought to become compliant with their taxes due to errors or omissions under the OVDP. Believing they could come back into the system by simply filing the appropriate paperwork and paying any outstanding tax burden, these individuals were later told they would be hit with a standard penalty of 20% of the highest value of their bank accounts over a five-year period.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Entrapment” by the IRS resulted in “ruinous penalties” for ordinary Americans