Police State

The Best Mob Story Ever

"The best mob story ever told does not involve Al Capone or Bugsy Segal or John Gotti. It involves a mobster few American have ever heard of, Greg Scarpa by name, and his not quite as lethal son, Greg Scarpa Jr., 'Junior' going forward. One reason few people ever heard of Scarpa is that until his arrest in September 1992, he worked as a 'Top Echelon Confidential Informant' under the protection of the FBI for the most of the thirty years prior. During that time, Scarpa murdered at least fifty people. Understandably, this is not a story not that the FBI wants told, but author Peter Lance has told it anyhow in his stunningly comprehensive new book, Deal With The Devil." Continue reading →

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Obama administration task force wants to make unauthorized streaming a felony

"The U.S. Department of Commerce wants to crack down on the unauthorized streaming of video and audio content by reviving a provision of the Stop Online Piracy Act. In a report released last week, the Commerce Department’s Internet Policy Task Force called for the unauthorized streaming of copyrighted works to become a felony. 'While the willfully infringing reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works can be punished as a felony, willful violations of the public performance right are punishable only as misdemeanors,' the report stated. 'This discrepancy is an increasingly significant impediment,' the report continued." Continue reading →

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Indiana Appeals Court: Motorist Search Over Expired Tag Disallowed

"A motorist's bag cannot be searched because his car has an expired tag, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled last week. A divided three-judge panel overturned the conviction of Adam Miller, who was pulled over on January 9, 2011 for having an expired sticker on his license plate." Continue reading →

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NEW Spying Scandal — Is This One the Last Straw?

"The DEA unit responsible for this program is a secret organization. It cannot be investigated by defense attorneys or called into court. Even the location of the Special Operations Division is classified. Now Your so-called 'representatives' promised you that the NSA only spies on those associated with foreign terrorists. They’ve insisted that there is no domestic aspect to this spying. You now know this to be untrue. It’s just one more lie. So let me ask you ... When will enough be enough ? At what point does our so-called government cease to be legitimate? At what point do we declare it to be a criminal entity?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNEW Spying Scandal — Is This One the Last Straw?

Is America Going to Hell in a Handbasket?

"While there is very little chance that an Islamic terrorist will ever have any effect on your life, there is a much greater chance that your life will be abused, molested, robbed, assaulted, terrorized or murdered by an American government official. And you 'progressives' out there are just as responsible for turning America into the current police state as are the conservatives and neocons, by the way. But the truth is still difficult for many people to handle. So, as America has reached Hell in a handbasket, people still would rather believe the myth that government is a 'necessary evil,' or that when it gets very, very bad, it can be 'reformed.'" Continue reading →

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Taken: The Use And Abuse Of Civil Forfeiture

"Hundreds of state and federal laws authorize forfeiture for cockfighting, drag racing, basement gambling, endangered-fish poaching, securities fraud, and countless other misdeeds. In general, you needn’t be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with 'probable cause' is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owner’s guilt or innocence." Continue reading →

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City Of Concord Confuses Concerned Residents With Domestic Terrorists

"A city that has had two homicides in the past decade needs an armored vehicle to protect itself against weapons of mass destruction, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive attacks, according to City Manager Thomas Aspell. In an application for Homeland Security federal funding of a $258,024 BEARCAT tank, Aspell named three groups as presenting 'active and daily challenges': Occupy New Hampshire, Free Staters, and Sovereign Citizens. This information was only uncovered after a public records request from the ACLU, focusing on the trend of the militarization of police forces in peaceful, small-town communities." Continue reading →

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Are Police in America Now a Military, Occupying Force?

"Today, the SWAT team is largely sold to the American public by way of the media, through reality TV shows such as Cops, Armed and Famous, and Police Women of Broward County, and by politicians well-versed in promising greater security in exchange for the government being given greater freedom to operate as it sees fit outside the framework of the Constitution. Having watered down the Fourth Amendment’s strong prohibitions intended to keep police in check and functioning as peacekeepers, we now find ourselves in the unenviable position of having militarized standing armies enforcing the law." Continue reading →

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Did cops need to kill a 95-year-old veteran with a Taser, riot shield and shotgun?

"When John Wrana was a young man, fit and strong and fighting in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps, did he ever think he'd end this way? Just a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday, in need of a walker to move about, cops coming through the door of his retirement home with a Taser and a shotgun. The old man, described by a family member as 'wobbly' on his feet, had refused medical attention. The paramedics were called. They brought in the Park Forest police.First they tased him, but that didn't work. So they fired a shotgun, hitting him in the stomach with a bean-bag round. Wrana was struck with such force that he bled to death internally." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDid cops need to kill a 95-year-old veteran with a Taser, riot shield and shotgun?

Lawyers: Illegal body cavity searches of women standard policy at Texas traffic stops

"A lawyer representing women who faced 'unconstitutional' cavity searches of their genitals at traffic stops in Texas last year have said that the practice is essentially standard practice in many jurisdictions. In two separate cases last year, four women said that they were humiliated with illegal cavity searches on the side of Texas highways. Angel Dobbs, 38, and her 24-year-old niece, Ashley Dobbs were searched after a trooper saw them throw a cigarette butt out the car window. And Brandy Hamilton, 27, and Alexandria Randle, 26, were searched after a trooper claimed he smelled marijuana." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLawyers: Illegal body cavity searches of women standard policy at Texas traffic stops