NSA diverted computers and laptops from shipping facilities to install spywareBy Scott KaufmanSunday, December 29, 2013 14:39 EST Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that the NSA’s “Tailored Access Operations” (TAO) has been diverting desktops and laptops shipped to U.S. consumers and installing spyware on them.
US govt’s wanton approval of harmful pesticides fueling ‘bee holocaust’ – lawsuitAFP Photo / Dieter Nagl In response to rapidly dwindling global honey bee populations – vital in pollinating a third of the world’s crops – environmental and food safety groups have sued the EPA for approving bee-ravaging pesticides despite damning evidence of their effects.
The Supreme Court Just Took Away Your Right to Remain SilentOn Monday, in a case called Salinas v. Texas that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, the Supreme Court held that you remain silent at your peril. The court said that this is true even before you’re arrested, when the police are just informally asking questions. The court’s move to…
Vigil for teen found shot in police car ends with tear gas, arrestsA vigil meant to commemorate the memory of a teenager who was fatally shot in the head while in police custody last month turned to panic Thursday night when police in full riot gear deployed tear gas to disperse the mostly peaceful crowd.
Fracking opponents in Pennsylvania dealt rare victory by state courtThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 2012 fracking law allowing gas companies to drill anywhere in the state without regard to local zoning laws is unconstitutional. The court’s decision called the state’s Marcellus Shale drilling law, Act 13, unconstitutional given restrictions it placed on municipalities’ rights.
Four Kaupthing bankers sentenced to prison for market abuses in 2008An Icelandic court has sentenced four former Kaupthing bankers to jail for market abuses related to a large stake taken in the bank by a Qatari sheikh just before it went under in late 2008.
White House Tries to Prevent Judge From Ruling on Surveillance EffortsWASHINGTON – The Obama administration moved late Friday to prevent a federal judge in California from ruling on the constitutionality of warrantless surveillance programs authorized during the Bush administration, telling a court that recent disclosures about National Security Agency spying were not enough to undermine its claim that litigating the case would jeopardize state secrets.
Accused 9/11 conspirator kicked out of Gitmo court for complaining about tortureRamzi Binalshibh.(AFP Photo / FBI) A Yemeni national accused of helping plan the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was ejected three times from a courtroom at the United States military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba this week during pretrial hearings.
DNA samples taken at police checkpoint ‘gross abuse of power,’ say PA driversAFP Photo / Ross Mantle A Pennsylvania community is asking questions after a government contractor, with help from the local police, pulled drivers off the road and into a parking lot to ask about their driving and – most notably – pressure them into providing a DNA sample.
Colorado regularly imprisons poor offenders unable to pay fines – ACLUAFP Photo / Justin Sullivan Jails in multiple cities throughout Colorado regularly imprison people who were previously given a fine by a court but are simply too poor to pay it, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union that calls for an end to this practice.
Environmental activists face up to ten years in prison for glitter-covered bannerOklahoma City police charged two activists on Friday for enacting a “terrorism hoax” after the pair unfurled a banner covered in glitter at a fossil-fuel company’s headquarters. Authorities took the glitter as evidence of a possible biochemical attack. About a dozen environmental activists with the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance group demonstrated Friday at Devon Tower, headquarters of Devon Energy.
Couple spends month in jail after cop mistakes soap for cocaineA New York couple spent nearly a month in jail after a Pennsylvania state trooper mistakenly identified two bricks of homemade soap as cocaine and arrested them for transporting the drug. On December 12, law enforcement authorities officially dropped the charges against the couple – 26-year-old Annadel Cruz and 30-year-old Alexander Bernstein – who were pulled over in Pennsylvania as they were driving from New York to Florida.
Federal judge says NSA’s phone surveillance program is likely unconstitutionalA federal court judge in Washington, DC ruled Monday that the United States National Security Agency’s controversial practice of routinely collecting the telephone records of millions of Americans may run afoul of the US Constitution.
Lawmakers overseeing NSA receive millions from private intelligence contractorsUS President Obama said last week that reforming the NSA in the midst of a major surveillance scandal could restore confidence in the government. Newly revealed connections between Congress and the private sector, however, may not do the same.
How Ted Koppel and ABC TV Tried to Steal my Life WorkHow Ted Koppel and ABC TV Tried to Steal my Life Work By Nate Thayer December 8, 2013 I am banned by legal agreement to write the following: ABC Television/ Disney Corporation, after seven years in court, where they attempted to bankrupt me and ruin my reputation for objecting to them stealing fifteen years of…
Prosecutors ‘coerce’ drug offenders into waiving their right to trial – human rights reportAFP Photo/Josep Lago US federal prosecutors often threaten drug offenders with decades of prison time in an effort to intimidate them into waiving their right to trial and agreeing to plead guilty, a Human Rights Watch investigation has determined. A whopping 97 percent of federal drug defendants agree to a plea bargain, foregoing their constitutionally-protected right to a fair trial.
Florida cop arrested for refusing to remove Guy Fawkes mask in Obamacare protestAFP Photo / Scott Olson A Florida police officer who was protesting US President Obama’s newly implemented healthcare law has been arrested because he refused to take off a Guy Fawkes mask he was wearing at a demonstration. Ericson Harrell, 39, was wearing a mask, a black cape, and holding an inverted American flag when police approached him in Plantation, Florida.
Papers, Please!The Federal civil rights trial in Ibrahim v. DHS – the first lawsuit seeking judicial review of a government “no-fly” order to make it to trial – began this morning in San Francisco with a surprise: When the case was called at 7:30 a.m., Elizabeth Pipkin and Christine Peek, pro bono lawyers for the plaintiff Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim, began by informing U.S.
The Strange Saga of Steubenville Vigilante Deric Lostutter | Culture News | Rolling StoneOn November 25th, the most notorious rape case in recent memory took yet another shocking twist. In Steubenville, Ohio, where a 16-year-old girl was raped by two high school football players in August 2012, a grand jury indicted the city’s School Superintendent, Michael McVey, on felony charges of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice.