Mainstream News

Vladimir Putin defends the U.S. on spying programs, drones and Occupy Wall Street

"Russian President Vladimir Putin called the massive U.S. surveillance programs, revealed last week by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, 'generally practicable' and 'the way a civilized society should go about fighting terrorism.' His comments seemed to defend programs that have been deeply controversial in the United States and much of Europe, offering an endorsement that the Obama administration is probably not thrilled to receive. He said of the New York city police response to Occupy Wall Street, in a comment sympathetic toward controversial U.S. programs, 'That’s the way it’s done in the U.S., and that’s the way it’s done in Russia.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVladimir Putin defends the U.S. on spying programs, drones and Occupy Wall Street

America’s private prison system is a national disgrace

"Since 1980, the US prison population has grown by 790%. We have the largest prison population of any nation in the history of the world. One in three African-American men will go to jail at some point in his life. Imprisoning that many people, most of them for non-violent offenses, doesn’t come cheap, especially when you’re paying private contractors. The United States now spends $50bn on our corrections system every year. Much of that money goes to private contractors, who are doing quite well living off of American corporate welfare – at the expense of the American taxpayer, whose dollars are funding this mass incarceration project." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica’s private prison system is a national disgrace

New York woman solves her father’s cold case murder 26 years later

"A man arrested in Miami last Thursday who confessed to the killing of a New York restaurant owner 26 years ago was caught thanks to the persistence of a daughter who never forgot the man’s name. The NYPD had improperly closed the case on Martinez’s killing. Joselyn Martinez was just 9 years old when her father was shot and killed. In November 2012, she found her father’s cold case file in the NYPD’s 34th precinct archives. Martinez worked furiously for three months before approaching police again with evidence she’d collected online, paying less than $300 to track the man down. Armed with this new information, police acted swiftly." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York woman solves her father’s cold case murder 26 years later

‘The worst case of scientific censorship since the church banned Copernicus’

"The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, magic mushrooms and other psychoactive substances amounts to scientific censorship and is hampering research into potentially important medicinal uses, leading scientists argued on Wednesday. Laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s have set back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades, they argued. 'The laws have never been updated despite scientific advances and growing evidence that many of these drugs are relatively safe. And there appears to be no way for the international community to make such changes,' said David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology professor." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘The worst case of scientific censorship since the church banned Copernicus’

Police take over food delivery run, bust recipient for marijuana

"Norman Police Officer David Stevenson was contacted by a female delivery driver in reference to a medical emergency she was having. She was at the intersection of West Lindsey Street and Crown Point Avenue, close to where her she was dropping off her next delivery. Prior to being transported to the hospital, she requested that the food she was about to deliver be delivered by Officer Stevenson, the affidavit said. When Wolf opened the door to his home, Stevenson said he observed a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside, saw a glass jar containing marijuana and a smoking pipe lying on the living room coffee table." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice take over food delivery run, bust recipient for marijuana

Hands-free cell phone devices still pose driving risk: study

"Speech-to-text devices in new cars fail to overcome the well-known perils of hands-on texting while driving, a US study published Wednesday suggests. While the research is ongoing, early findings suggest that sending texts with a hands-free voice recognition system — a feature in many new vehicles — was more distracting than listening to the radio or conversing with passengers. The 12 men and 20 women who participated in the study ranged in age from 18 to 33. All had clean driving records — and all confessed to regularly using their cell phones while driving." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHands-free cell phone devices still pose driving risk: study

Edward Snowden: US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years

"US whistle-blower Edward Snowden yesterday emerged from hiding in Hong Kong and revealed to the South China Morning Post that he will stay in the city to fight likely attempts by his government to have him extradited for leaking state secrets. In an exclusive interview carried out from a secret location in the city, the former Central Intelligence Agency analyst also made explosive claims that the US government had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland for years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden: US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years

EU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

"Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, wrote a letter on Monday to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding 'swift and concrete' answers about the spy scheme when they meet in Dublin on Friday. 'Programmes such as PRISM and the laws on the basis of which such programmes are authorised could have grave adverse consequences for the fundamental rights of EU citizens,' she wrote. Her questions to Holder include whether EU citizens were targeted by the US programmes, whether Europeans would be able find out whether their data has been accessed, and whether they would be treated similarly to US nationals in such cases." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

Home Depot Co-Founder: We Should Throw Edward Snowden a Party – We Ought to Be Grateful

"Home Deport Co-Founder Ken Langone told Neil Cavuto the NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be celebrated. 'I'd throw a party for him. I'd congratulate him. I'd say thank you for helping protect America's privacy rights. That's what I'd do for him... I think we ought to be grateful that we have kids like that in America.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHome Depot Co-Founder: We Should Throw Edward Snowden a Party – We Ought to Be Grateful

New phone app would let you snitch on illegal parkers, get a cut of the fine

"Some entrepreneurial Winnipeggers are set to unleash an army of bounty hunters keen on nabbing people who park in disabled parking spots without a permit or in front of a fire hydrant. All that would be needed is a smartphone and the 'spotsquad' app. The app would allow people to snap a picture of a parking violation and send the photo to police, private parking operators or city wardens. A parking warden could then be dispatched to issue a ticket. If a ticket resulted in a fine, under the plan, informants would get a cut deposited into their bank accounts or could direct the cash to their favourite charities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew phone app would let you snitch on illegal parkers, get a cut of the fine