Orwellian

Voters in Three States Take on Traffic Cameras

"Residents in in five cities in California, Texas and Washington state have battled for the right to have a say in whether automated ticketing machines are installed in their community. The November 6 results could raise to 25 the total number of municipalities nationwide that prohibit cameras. Anaheim and Newport Beach are unique in having councils propose the charter amendment. Elsewhere, photo ticketing companies and city leaders fought the ballot measures at every step of the way." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVoters in Three States Take on Traffic Cameras

President Romney Can Thank Obama for His Permanent Robotic Death List

"It’s a good thing that Mitt Romney endorsed President Obama’s counterterrorism agenda. Should he win the election in two weeks, Romney will inherit an institutionalized, bureaucratic machine for using lethal robots to target and kill suspected terrorists and their allies. Killing Osama bin Laden was a one-time event; this 'Disposition Matrix' is Barack Obama’s real national-security legacy. Despite bin Laden’s death and the supposed disruption of al-Qaida’s old leadership, the Matrix keeps adding names, as fast or faster than the drones drop bodies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPresident Romney Can Thank Obama for His Permanent Robotic Death List

Glenn Greenwald: Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent

"What has been created here - permanently institutionalized - is a highly secretive executive branch agency that simultaneously engages in two functions: (1) it collects and analyzes massive amounts of surveillance data about all Americans without any judicial review let alone search warrants, and (2) creates and implements a 'matrix' that determines the 'disposition' of suspects, up to and including execution, without a whiff of due process or oversight. It is simultaneously a surveillance state and a secretive, unaccountable judicial body that analyzes who you are and then decrees what should be done with you, how you should be 'disposed' of." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent

Get a U.S. Passport Now – While You Still Can

"Until a century ago, almost anywhere you went in the world, passports were not required for international travel. Rare passports were used mainly to insure passage of diplomats sent to negotiate peace treaties or carry official papers. Now governments use passports as another part of citizen control and surveillance. Official passport control marked the Cold War years, but now it is applied with a bureaucratic, computer-driven vengeance, justified by the endless 'War on Terror.' I often get questions about the possibility of currency and capital controls, but thinking Americans should be equally concerned about foreign travel controls." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet a U.S. Passport Now – While You Still Can

Second Michigan county says “NO!” to federal NDAA kidnapping

"On Thursday, yet another local government condemned detention provisions written into the National Defense Authorization Act. The Oakland County, Mich. Board of Commissioners unanimously approved its Support for the Preservation of Liberty resolution Thursday evening. Oakland County joins Allegan County in Michigan, and at least 15 local government bodies nationwide, taking a stand against federal kidnapping. Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center indicate at least another dozen local and county governments are considering similar resolutions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecond Michigan county says “NO!” to federal NDAA kidnapping

I’m Astounded by This Terrorism Statute

"What crimes, what infractions, what nuisances, what boycotts, what speech, what assaults, what picketing, what ad campaigns, what harassments, what torts, what public demonstrations, what signs, what shouts, what vandalism, what threats will not be called terrorism? Congress in 2006 passed a law called 'The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act' to 'protect' biomedical researchers and pharmaceutical companies from animal rights activists." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingI’m Astounded by This Terrorism Statute

Spain To Ban Photos of Police on Duty

"Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said after months of television and Internet scenes of sometimes violent clashes between police and demonstrators, a balance had to be struck 'between citizens' right to protest' and the need 'to uphold the integrity of state security forces.' The government's plans were unveiled a day after Spain's director general of police, Cosido Ignacio, said efforts are under way to secure such a ban. Television images of clashes near Parliament on Sept. 25 showed several protesters bloodied and in need of medical attention." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpain To Ban Photos of Police on Duty

CIA chiefs face arrest over horrific evidence of bloody ‘video-game’ sorties by drone pilots

"The Mail on Sunday today reveals shocking new evidence of the full horrific impact of US drone attacks in Pakistan. A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes. It is set to trigger a formal murder investigation by police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered the strikes. They are Jonathan Banks, former head of the CIA’s Islamabad station, and John A. Rizzo, the CIA’s former chief lawyer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA chiefs face arrest over horrific evidence of bloody ‘video-game’ sorties by drone pilots

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 →

Continue ReadingNo-Fly List Strands Man In Hawaii

‘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 →

Continue Reading‘Fusion centers’ spark security controversy