Land Of The Flea

U.S. Helping Iranians With Surveillance Circumvention Technologies

"While Americans are making a big deal that the NSA is spying on everyone, Obama comes out and fervently defends the practice. NSA spying on you is the good kind. The 'bad' surveillance happens over in Iran. So what else for the U.S. government to do than supply Iranian citizens with surveillance circumvention technologies! Bloomberg reports: 'The U.S. State Department is helping develop a number of general-use surveillance circumvention technologies,' Sascha Meinrath, founder of the Commotion Wireless Project, a non-profit group trying to build such devices, said in an email.' The irony is so thick, you can barely see!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Helping Iranians With Surveillance Circumvention Technologies

Americans troubled more by governmental abuse than terrorism

"In the dozen years since 9/11, frequent polling conducted by Fox has suggests that the majority of Americans have all the while said they’d give up their freedoms for the sake of security. Only with the latest inquiry though are those answers reversed: the last time a majority of Americans opposed giving up privacy for security was May 2001. Not only are Americans more opposed now to giving up personal freedoms for the sake of security than they were after 9/11, but other statistics show that distrust against the federal government continues to climb." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmericans troubled more by governmental abuse than terrorism

Public Approval of Supreme Court Falls to All-Time Low

"The U.S. Supreme Court finished its term with big decisions on voting rights, affirmative action and same-sex marriage. Following those rulings, public approval of the court has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded in more than nine years of polling. Just 28% believe the Supreme Court is doing a good or an excellent job. At the same time, 30% rate its performance as poor. That’s the highest-ever poor rating. It’s also the first time ever that the poor ratings have topped the positive assessments. These numbers are even weaker than the numbers recorded following the Supreme Court ruling upholding the president’s health care law last year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPublic Approval of Supreme Court Falls to All-Time Low

Going Postal

"Now we hear that the same USPS that cannot operate without massive financial losses -- even with a monopoly on first class mail delivery -- somehow has the resources to photograph the front and back of each piece of mail processed! They cannot deliver our mail properly, cannot operate at a profit, cannot provide anything resembling customer service beyond the 1950s East Europe model, yet somehow they have unlimited resources to play big brother with all our postal communications." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoing Postal

Women Win Lawsuit After Being Violated During Roadside Search

"State Trooper David Farrell claimed he smelled marijuana in the car and decided to do a search. He called female Trooper Kelly Helleson to do the search. Rather than sticking to a standard pat down search, she put on a pair of latex gloves and used her fingers to search the anuses and vaginas of both women. Helleson even used the same pair of gloves for both women. Helleson’s searches turned up nothing, but the women contacted attorney Scott Palmer and filed a lawsuit. The women won their lawsuit and were awarded $185,000. Helleson was fired and charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of official oppression." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWomen Win Lawsuit After Being Violated During Roadside Search

Marijuana’s March Towards Mainstream Confounds Feds

"It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of 'Reefer Madness' to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of 'Just Say No.' The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously 'didn't inhale,' to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did. Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug - for medical use and just for fun." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarijuana’s March Towards Mainstream Confounds Feds

The NSA Has All Non-Gun Show Sales in Its Files.

"On June 27, 26 United States Senators sent a letter to James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence. The letter called attention to the fact that domestic spying by the United States government on American citizens includes the collection of information on firearms sales. The letter said the following: 'And the bulk collection authority could potentially supersede bans on maintaining gun owner databases. . . .' How comprehensive has this collection process been? It appears to have been comprehensive to the extreme." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe NSA Has All Non-Gun Show Sales in Its Files.

Government’s Spirit-Crushing Hatred Of Lemonade

"Traditional civil liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion ultimately rest on an individual's ability to exercise the right of economic ownership over his or her own body. To attack economic rights is to attack civil liberties. And it is not funny when police with guns close down a 4-year-old's lemonade stand. It is damned frightening." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment’s Spirit-Crushing Hatred Of Lemonade

Regulation Means The Bitcoin Gold Rush Will Not Happen In The US, Say Experts

"Europe is better positioned as a better place to create Bitcoin-based startups than the US. That was the message coming out of Bitcoin London today, the first major conference in London to cover startups, investors and business models. Covering the broad sweep of Bitcoin businesses, technologists and institutions, the conference heard that the US may have made a fatal strategic mistake in classifying Bitcoin as if it were money. Bitcoin is being treated in many different ways: as money, as an asset class, as the first highly secure P2P global information exchange, as a technology platform and even as a if it were a startup entity in its own right." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRegulation Means The Bitcoin Gold Rush Will Not Happen In The US, Say Experts

Humorless Ohio AG mugs ‘prescription’ coffee cup

"Has Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine helped get a potentially dangerous product off the shelves or does he just have no sense of humor? Maybe he should be heeding Alcoholics Anonymous’ famous Rule No. 62: 'don’t take yourself too damn seriously.' Here’s the issue: does a coffee mug that mimics a prescription bottle and says 'Prescription Coffee, RX#: VRY-CAF-N8D, Drink one mug by mouth, repeat until awake and alert' make fun of prescription drug abuse? DeWine thinks so. May was when DeWine and 22 other state attorneys general asked the company to pull the Prescription Line of glasses, coasters, mugs and drink holders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHumorless Ohio AG mugs ‘prescription’ coffee cup