Land Of The Flea

Rand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

'The revelation that the NSA has secretly seized the call records of millions of Americans, without probable cause, represents an outrageous abuse of power and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. I have long argued that Congress must do more to restrict the Executive’s expansive law enforcement powers to seize private records of law-abiding Americans that are held by a third-party,' Sen. Paul said. 'The bill restores our Constitutional rights and declares that the Fourth Amendment shall not be construed to allow any agency of the United States government to search the phone records of Americans without a warrant based on probable cause.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRand Paul Will Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act Of 2013

Glenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation

"They could easily enrich themselves by selling those documents for huge sums of money to foreign intelligence services. They could seek to harm the US government by acting at the direction of a foreign adversary and covertly pass those secrets to them. They could gratuitously expose the identity of covert agents. None of the whistleblowers persecuted by the Obama administration as part of its unprecedented attack on whistleblowers has done any of that: not one of them. They undertook great personal risk and sacrifice for one overarching reason: to make their fellow citizens aware of what their government is doing in the dark." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation

11 Year-Old Boy Suspended From School Because He Said ‘Gun’

"In a radio interview, Bruce Henkelman, the boy's father, claimed that a school bus driver overheard the boy use the word 'gun' and then took him to the principal. The boy was then questioned by both the principal and a Sherriff's deputy. Henkelman said that the school's principal, Darrel Prioleau, told him that '[W]ith what happened at Sandy Hook, if you say the word 'gun' in my school, you are going to get suspended for 10 days.' In a Monday interview with Washington, DC-based radio station WMAL, Henkelman claimed that the young boy was telling fellow students how he would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting if he had been there with a firearm." Continue reading →

Continue Reading11 Year-Old Boy Suspended From School Because He Said ‘Gun’

CIA didn’t always know who it was killing in drone strikes, classified documents show

"About one of every four of those killed by drones in Pakistan between Sept. 3, 2010, and Oct. 30, 2011, were classified as 'other militants,' the documents detail. The 'other militants' label was used when the CIA could not determine the affiliation of those killed, prompting questions about how the agency could conclude they were a threat to U.S. national security. The uncertainty appears to arise from the use of so-called 'signature' strikes to eliminate suspected terrorists -- picking targets based in part on their behavior and associates. A former White House official said the U.S. sometimes executes people based on 'circumstantial evidence.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA didn’t always know who it was killing in drone strikes, classified documents show

New leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more

"Just one day after disclosing the existence of a secret court order between the NSA and Verizon, The Guardian and The Washington Post both published secret presentation slides revealing the existence of a previously undisclosed massive surveillance program called PRISM. The program has the capability to collect data 'directly from the servers' of major American tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo. (Dropbox is said to be 'coming soon.') The newspapers describe the system as one giving the National Security Agency and the FBI direct access to a huge number of online commercial services." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more

The Problem of Leviathan

"The Internal Revenue Service, already under fire after officials disclosed that the agency targeted conservative groups, faces increased scrutiny because of an inspector general's report that it spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012. The report by the Treasury Department's inspector general about conference spending is set to be released Tuesday. The department issued a statement Sunday saying the administration 'has already taken aggressive and dramatic action to reduce conference spending.'" Continue reading →

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No Statute Of Limitations For Failing To File U.S. Tax Returns

"The statute of limitations—that legal egg timer, normally set to three years—never starts to run on unreported activities. And there are cases now of the IRS going back decades, collecting big money—plus penalties and interest—on form-filing failures, accounting errors, and innocent mistakes by unwary people. Consider the recent case of Sumner Redstone, the Viacom chairman who failed to report a taxable gift to his children. This happened in 1972, and nobody looked twice at it for 40 years. Then, just a few months ago, the IRS decided he owed $1.1 million in penalties and interest. All for an old error that everyone except the IRS had forgotten about." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNo Statute Of Limitations For Failing To File U.S. Tax Returns

DEA Rehires “Con Man Extraordinaire” and Admitted Multiple Perjurer as Paid Informant

"The Drug Enforcement Agency is so determined to bust folks that a snitch who admitted to multiple instances of perjury has been rehired. According to AZCentral, the man once labeled the 'highest paid snitch in history' -- Andrew Chambers, Jr. -- is back in business as a paid informant, never mind the fact that he was terminated in 2000 for incessant lying. Chambers gave false testimony under oath in at least 16 criminal cases nationwide before he was ousted in 2000. An informant since 1984, he worked with DEA and other federal agencies in at least 280 cases, with sting operations in 31 US cities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA Rehires “Con Man Extraordinaire” and Admitted Multiple Perjurer as Paid Informant

Florida Sheriff Arrested After Defending Second Amendment

"A Florida sheriff who believes in the Second Amendment was charged Tuesday for removing the arrest file of a suspect held on an unconstitutional gun charge but later released. Liberty County Sheriff Nicholas Finch, 50, was booked in his own jail Tuesday with one count of official misconduct by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The FDLE accuses Finch of covering up the arrest of Floyd Eugene Parrish after releasing him from the Liberty County Jail. Parrish had been arrested for carrying a concealed firearm without a license, a third-degree felony in Florida." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFlorida Sheriff Arrested After Defending Second Amendment

New York ‘soccer mom’ accused of $3 million marijuana operation

"Andrea Sanderlin was described by friends and neighbours in the upmarket town of Scarsdale as a 'soccer mom' who drove a Mercedes SUV and competed in horse riding competitions. But the federal drug enforcement agency alleges that the 45-year-old was in charge of a 'sophisticated operation to grow and process marijuana', according to the criminal complaint. Investigators linked Sanderlin, who has two daughters aged 3 and 13, to a warehouse that was using 'an unusually high amount of electricity'. In a separate raid on her Scarsdale home authorities found books on how to grow marijuana and how to launder money, according to the DEA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York ‘soccer mom’ accused of $3 million marijuana operation