Land Of The Flea

A Commissarina Rises: Wendy J. Olson’s Reign of Terror

"After being appointed to her current post by Barack Obama in 2010, Olson wasted no time in building a large network of undercover informants and devising remarkably novel ways to turn innocent people into criminals. While Olson’s efforts have done nothing to enhance the security of persons or property, they have been immensely lucrative for the coercive class. An October 4 press release from the Commissarina’s office boasted that her staff had collected $84 million in fines, assessments, and forfeiture proceeds over the past year – ten times its operating budget." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Commissarina Rises: Wendy J. Olson’s Reign of Terror

No-Fly List Strands Man In Hawaii

"The 34-year-old from Gulfport, Miss., was stranded in the islands this week after being told he was on the FBI's no-fly list during a layover for a military flight from California to Japan. The episode left Hicks scrambling to figure out how he'd get home from Hawaii without being able to fly. How could someone on a list intelligence officials use to inform counterterrorism investigations successfully fly standby on an Air Force flight? He wasn't told why and wondered whether his controversial views on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks played a role. Hicks said he disagrees with the 9/11 Commission's conclusions about the attacks." Continue reading →

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‘Fusion centers’ spark security controversy

"The federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help establish more than 70 such 'fusion centers' throughout the country. The idea was for the centers to serve as a domestic information-sharing network that would help local, state and federal law enforcement agencies better collaborate to prevent a future attack. But a two-year inquiry released earlier this month questions the value of such centers saying they’ve provided irrelevant, useless or inappropriate information that, in some instances, threatened people’s constitutional rights." Continue reading →

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Iowa: Proposed Citizen Initiative Would Ban Traffic Ticket Drones

"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is taking up the fight against red light cameras and speed cameras in Iowa. Earlier this month, lawyers from the left-leaning activist group sent an affidavit to the city council in Iowa City containing the text of a proposed initiative banning the use of all forms of photo enforcement -- including license plate recognition cameras (ALPR or ANPR) and the use of drones. Residents had called the ACLU for help after city attorney Eleanor M. Dilkes took action to block citizens from ever voting on the topic." Continue reading →

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State Dept. admits passport form was illegal, but still wants it approved

"Ignoring massive public opposition, and despite having recently admitted that it is already using the 'proposed' forms illegally without approval, the State Department no longer wants you to tell the passport examiner about the circumstances of your circumcision, but does still want to know the dates and locations of all of your mother’s pre- and post-natal medical appointments, how long she was hospitalized for your birth, and a complete list of everyone who was in the room when you were born." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState Dept. admits passport form was illegal, but still wants it approved

U.S. Jails More People Than Any Other Country

"The U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with Department of Justice data showing more than 2.2 million people are behind bars, equal to a city the size of Houston. With a rate of 730 people per 100,000, the U.S. jails a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country. The U.S. also leads the world in the number of prisons in operation at 4,575, more than four times the number of second- place Russia at 1,029. U.S. states spent $52 billion to construct and operate those prisons in 2011, more than quadruple the $12 billion spent in 1987, according to data from the Pew Center on the States." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald: The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy

"All views that reside outside the narrow confines of the two parties are rigidly excluded. Anyone who might challenge or subvert the two-party duopoly is rendered invisible. Lobbyists who enrich themselves by peddling their influence run everything behind the scenes. Corporations pay for the process, which they exploit and is then run to bolster rather than threaten their interests. The media's role is to keep the discourse as restrictive and unthreatening as possible while peddling the delusion that it's all vibrant and free and independent and unrestrained. To understand the US political process, one can just look to how these sham debates are organized and how they function." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy

The Politics of Fear in America: A Nation at War with Itself

"Turn on the TV or flip open the newspaper on any given day, and you will find yourself accosted by reports of government corruption, corporate malfeasance, militarized police and marauding SWAT teams. Yet even more dangerous than these violations of our basic rights is the language they are couched in—the language of fear. And, as John Whitehead says in this week's vodcast, the only thing which will improve our present condition is the taming of our fear." Continue reading →

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Obama Rep. Schultz on The NDAA and Secret Kill List

"Last night at the presidential debate at Hofstra University, Luke Rudkowski got a chance to talk to Obama's representative congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the Spin Room. The Spin room was full of spin as both Obama and Romney representative's dodged questions from WeAreChange after the debates." Continue reading →

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Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Arrested Before Debate

"Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested outside of Hofstra University on Tuesday after attempting to enter debate grounds. According to Stein's campaign press statement, Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala joined supporters outside the Hofstra campus at 2pm, where Stein declared, 'We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy.' When they started to walk onto the debate grounds, they were stopped by police officers, and then the two women sat down on the ground. Stein was arrested and as of early Tuesday evening was still in jail, charged with disorderly conduct." Continue reading →

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