Police State

Steve Wozniak: Snowden ‘Is a Hero Because This Came From His Heart’

"Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is more than a little distressed that the technology he helped develop nearly four decades ago is being used on a massive scale to invade people’s privacy. 'I think he’s a hero,' said the 62-year-old Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and invented the Apple I and Apple II personal computers that launched a technological revolution. 'He’s a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work. I don’t think the NSA has done one thing valuable for us, in this whole ‘Prism’ regard, that couldn’t have been done by following the Constitution and doing it the old way.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSteve Wozniak: Snowden ‘Is a Hero Because This Came From His Heart’

In WikiLeaks Probe, Feds Used a Secret Search Warrant to Get Volunteer’s Gmail

"The Justice Department used a secret search warrant to obtain the entire contents of a Gmail account used by a former WikiLeaks volunteer in Iceland, according to court records released to the volunteer this week. The warrant ordered Google to turn over 'the contents of all e-mails associated with the account, including stored or preserved copies of e-mails sent to and from the account, draft e-mails, deleted e-mails [...] the source and destination addresses associated with each e-mail, the date and time at which each e-mail was sent, and the size and length of each e-mail.' The warrant also ordered Google not to disclose the search to anyone." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn WikiLeaks Probe, Feds Used a Secret Search Warrant to Get Volunteer’s Gmail

California man could face a decade in jail for chalking ‘no thanks big banks’

"A California man’s protest against banking excess could put him in jail for more than a decade, while apparently landing him in the middle of the ongoing feud between the mayor of San Diego and the city attorney. KFMB-TV reported on Tuesday that Jeff Olson has been charged with 13 counts of vandalism by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith for writing statements including 'No thanks big banks' and 'Shame on Bank of America' on the sidewalk outside a Bank of America location between February and August 2012. If convicted, Olson could spend up to 13 years in jail and be forced to pay the bank $13,000 in restitution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia man could face a decade in jail for chalking ‘no thanks big banks’

Feds, Anaheim Try to Seize $1.5M Building . . . With No Charges Against the Owner

"Anaheim small business owner Tony Jalali faces the loss of his office building, which is worth $1.5 million, even though he has committed no crime. The city of Anaheim is colluding with federal prosecutors to do an end-run around state laws to take away Jalali’s building because he rented space to medical marijuana dispensaries, even though they operated legally under California law. Jalali is fighting back. Represented by the Institute for Justice, he is challenging the constitutionality of the taking of his land to put an end to the civil forfeiture in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, Calif." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds, Anaheim Try to Seize $1.5M Building . . . With No Charges Against the Owner

Edward Snowden versus Jay Carney

"There is no doubt that Edward Snowden has created a huge public relations crisis for the Obama administration. The government appears to be not only stupid, but utterly impotent. Here we have this gigantic spying system, and it looks like the Keystone Kops. It cannot locate him. It cannot stop him. It revoked his passport. Nobody cares. Obama has remained silent on all of this. In his place is Jay Carney. Who in the world is Jay Carney? The implications of what Snowden has revealed are monumental. We have moved formally and legally into a police state. The only thing protecting us is the utter incompetence of the police state to enforce its will on people." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden versus Jay Carney

Privacy groups push back against Sheriff’s Department license plate database

"The massive storage of license plate and vehicle data by law enforcement agencies across Southern California is sparking a debate over the privacy rights of citizens in their cars. On average, a cruiser equipped with an ALPR camera can collect data on 10,000 cars in a single shift, according to industry reports. A lawsuit filed by two privacy rights groups says each of the 7 million registered cars in greater Los Angeles has had its license plate scanned an average of 22 times since the program launched. The curation of so much information on personal vehicles has raised the ire of privacy groups, which are beginning to push back against the data mining efforts." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivacy groups push back against Sheriff’s Department license plate database

Two Thirds of Americans Support Drones for ‘Homeland Security’ Missions

"The survey also canvassed law enforcement officers, 72% of whom supported the use of unmanned drones for surveillance purposes and 66% supported their use for 'emergency response'. Initial testing of robotic spy drones for 'public safety' applications was conducted by the DHS’ Science and Technology directorate at Fort Sill, Oklahoma last year. The DHS has also been giving grants worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to police departments across the country enabling them to purchase unmanned surveillance drones such as the Shadowhawk drone, a 50lb mini helicopter that can be fitted with an XREP taser with the ability to fire four barbed electrodes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo Thirds of Americans Support Drones for ‘Homeland Security’ Missions

How did America’s police become a military force on the streets?

"How did we evolve from a country whose founding statesmen were adamant about the dangers of armed, standing government forces to a country where it has become acceptable for armed government agents dressed in battle garb to storm private homes in the middle of the night—not to apprehend violent fugitives or thwart terrorist attacks, but to enforce laws against nonviolent, consensual activities? How did a country pushed into a revolution by protest and political speech become one where protests are met with flash grenades, pepper spray and platoons of riot teams dressed like RoboCops?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow did America’s police become a military force on the streets?

Edward Snowden – A Real American Hero

"When you make a mistake, usually there is a negative feedback loop, which lets you know you're headed in the wrong direction. You borrow too much money, for example, and your creditors begin trailing you with court orders or baseball bats. But in a major public policy disaster, the feedback loop is twisted. The feds spend too much money, for example... and give the bill to the next generation. The poor youngsters can't vote. Many are not even born yet. A police state is a disaster. It has its own ways of bending the feedback loop. Every public policy disaster produces zombies. And armed zombies protect themselves... with arms, naturally." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden – A Real American Hero