Police State

Mentally disabled woman calls 911 while being beaten during own arrest

"Federal Way Police are reviewing their use of force during a recent arrest in which a woman diagnosed with cognitive and hearing disabilities was punched several times, while being restrained. Police, in turn, are recommending the woman be charged with felony assault to an officer. Megan Graham told her story to KIRO 7, her face still black and blue and swollen from the beating. 'I had a concussion. I still have a hard time understanding how things got so out of control, so fast,' Graham said. 'It was a total lack of communication.' Graham says because the officer was speaking to her from his running car, she never heard his order to get back into her car." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMentally disabled woman calls 911 while being beaten during own arrest

Cop Shot Litter of Kittens in Front of Screaming Children

"On Monday in Ohio, animal control Officer Barry Accorti shot and killed a litter of kittens in front of freaked-out children nearby. 'He informed [a witness] that shelters were full and that these cats would be going to kitty heaven,' Ohio SPCA Executive Director Teresa Landon told the Sun News. Landon said the home owner, who had called for help, assumed the officer 'would be trapping them or something and taking them to a shelter and they would be humanely euthanized if they were not adopted.' The stunned observer alerted the Ohio SPCA to the officer's actions, and the animal rights group responded with a Facebook campaign to 'expose' the behavior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCop Shot Litter of Kittens in Front of Screaming Children

Schwagstock founder Jimmy Tebeau enters federal prison; should other music-festival organizers worry?

"At first prosecutors weren't sure what charges to press against Tebeau. They used asset-forfeiture proceedings to take his land and freeze his bank accounts. Finally, six months after the raid on Tebeau's property, they accused him of 'maintaining a drug involved premises' — a violation originally intended to punish landlords who lease houses to crack dealers. The law, broadly drafted to criminalize properties maintained 'for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance,' dates back to the mid-1980s, but it was amended in 2002 at the urging of then-U.S. Senator Joe Biden." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSchwagstock founder Jimmy Tebeau enters federal prison; should other music-festival organizers worry?

Putin Lectures Obama on the Need for Greater Privacy

"So here is a former KGB official saying that America has gone too far in spying on its people. Worse, he’s correct. He said that Snowden’s revelations have revealed nothing new. He is correct. James Bamford has repeatedly revealed how far the NSA has gone. But the American public did not know. Snowden has gotten media attention for spilling beans that have long been out of the bag. Americans need a good scandal to catch their attention. Snowden is the source of the scandal. Bamford should have been, but he wasn’t. He was ignored. But the cloak-and-dagger story of Snowden in Hong Kong is irresistible. And now we get Vladimir Putin, defender of civil rights." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin Lectures Obama on the Need for Greater Privacy

Google, Yahoo, and Facebook Are Scrambling: “We Never Cooperated with the NSA!”

"How can they escape? Snowden’s story confirms James Banford’s story. Bamford revealed all this in 2008. No one cared. Now, without warning, this is a hot story all over the Web. How does a company plausibly deny this? They are all going with a version of this one: 'We never inhaled.' In March, 2012, Wired ran Bamford’s story on the NSA’s huge complex in Utah: 'The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say).' It got some coverage, but there was no follow-through. Congress does not care. Congress funded it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle, Yahoo, and Facebook Are Scrambling: “We Never Cooperated with the NSA!”

Assange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

"The ex-CIA man who blew the lid off America's vast NSA public surveillance net - is promising more explosive revelations. Edward Snowden's supporters are mobilizing too - with tens of thousands signing a petition to pardon the whistleblower. With us now, a man who knows what it's like to blow the whistle in a big way, and incur the wrath of Washington - Julian Assange. He joins talks to RT via broadband from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAssange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

Rep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

"Representative Peter King (R-NY) on Tuesday night said that journalists who revealed secret government programs should face criminal charges. In response to WikiLeaks, King proposed legislation in 2010 that would have made publishing classified information “concerning the identity of a classified source or informant of an element of the intelligence community” an act of espionage. 'These organizations are a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States,' King explained at the time. 'Julian Assange and his compatriots are enemies of the US and should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

The Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

"Is there a legitimate security need to monitor the entire world's communications? What's missing is the sense that the nation's citizenry should have a say in these policy decisions. We're supposed to be satisfied that a handful of thoroughly corrupted-by-the-corporatocracy congresspeople have been spoon-fed a thin dribble of intelligence gruel and told to rubberstamp it in the name of democracy. This calls to mind the notion that authorities inoculate the public with carefully measured doses of the operative master agenda and narrative. By carefully releasing bits and pieces of the program, authorities inoculate the public against outrage or political action." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

Civil liberties groups launch StopWatching.us to protest surveillance

"A coalition of Internet and civil liberties groups launched a campaign Tuesday protesting the huge US online surveillance program revealed in the past week. Joining the effort were the Mozilla Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace USA, the World Wide Web Foundation and more than 80 other organizations or companies. The coalition launched a website, StopWatching.us, and called on Congress to launch a full probe and urging more disclosure from US officials about the National Security Agency’s vast program Internet surveillance program. An online petition was also launched on the website." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCivil liberties groups launch StopWatching.us to protest surveillance

Sales of George Orwell’s 1984 skyrocket in wake of spying scandal

"Big brother is watching — sales of George Orwell’s dystopian novel '1984' have skyrocketed in the wake of revelations of US government surveillance. The centennial edition of the novel surged 7,005 percent on Amazon, according to the online retailer’s 'Mover and Shakers in Books' page that monitors biggest gainers in sales rank compared to 24 hours ago. 'Only 8 left in stock (more on the way),' potential buyers are advised when clicking on the novel’s icon. A hardback encompassing both '1984' and Orwell’s 'Animal Farm' jumped 314 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSales of George Orwell’s 1984 skyrocket in wake of spying scandal