Police State

TSA agents suffer surge in incidents of cancer from scanners.

Ubiquitous spying isn't about terrorism.

"Earlier this month, the Administrative Office of the US Courts released their report on 2013 state and federal wiretaps. A great deal of ventures were excluded from the report, most prominently ones which go through the FISA Court. So, this isn’t a terrorism report. But at the same time, it confirms the fact that government powers – assuming they were well used, effective, reasonable, moral, etc., etc. until the end of time – are not for worst case scenarios. They are not for would-be murderers or terrorists. They are for the current panic of the moment. And the panic that has had legs for decades is the one over narcotics. Eighty-seven percent of the 3,115 wiretaps that took place last year were over drugs. Homicide came in at number three at "less than 4 percent of applications.""

This is another fantastic reason to end the war on drugs.

"The NSA swear it’s essential for American safety, but they are wiretapping entire countries, including the terrorism-free Bahamas. They write on their documents that the war on drugs "has all the risks, excitement, and dangers of conventional warfare, and the stakes are equally high." If everything is the same as war, why complain about war? Everything short of a boots on the ground invasion of a country has already been done in the name of the war on drugs. So what’s a little metadata, anyway?"

Except boots on the ground? Where has she been living?

Chicago's red light cameras produce thousands of wrong tickets. So do everybody else's.

Here's another one of those Orwellian headlines:

"Investigation Launched After Man Dies While Being Taken into Custody by NYPD"

Notice there is no subject in this sentence. That's a sure sign police murdered somebody.

"Police attempted to take Eric Garner, 43, into custody on Thursday on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes, the New York Daily News reports. The arrest was reportedly caught on tape, and one of the officers may have used a chokehold on Garner, a method of apprehension that is barred by the NYPD."

Oddly enough, NYPD prohibits choking people to death. But I love the apologetic nature of the report. Here's a more honest article with a photograph.

This picture clearly shows a police officer choking the victim. This is the norm in police state America, not the exception.

Full interview with Edward Snowden.