Wealth of most Americans down 55% since recession(MoneyWatch) Increasing housing prices and the stock market”s posting all-time highs haven’t helped the plight most Americans. The average U.S. household has recovered only 45 percent of the wealth they lost during the recession, according to a report released yesterday from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Graham: FBI hindered Congress’s 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota SaudisFormer U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has accused the FBI in court papers of having impeded Congress’s Joint Inquiry into 9/11 by withholding information about a Florida connection to the al-Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
This abuse of the Patriot Act must endWe’ve gotten used to what “Big Government” looks like – Washington’s unchecked deficit spending, the Obama administration’s policing of the press and the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. But the problem is bigger than we thought. “Big Brother” is watching.
Florida AG: Bank of America has ‘Systemic Problems’ with Mortgage Settlement RulesFlorida’s Attorney General said complaints against Bank of America are revealing patterns of “systematic” rule violations under the National Mortgage Settlement, including lengthy delays in providing loan modifications and sending state officials “litigation letters.” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also indicated that the state would consider a lawsuit if corrective actions are not taken by Bank of America through the settlement’s established procedures.
Police crush barricades in Istanbul squareISTANBUL (AP) – Hundreds of riot police overran improvised barricades at Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons in running battles with protesters who have been occupying the area for more than a week.
Same games being played in England:
Hague under fire over GCHQ-PRISM intel sharing, slams leaksThe accusations that the US spying program PRISM was shared with the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) are “baseless,” Foreign Secretary William Hague told MPs. He deplored classified data leaks, saying they create a “misleading picture.”
This happens with bank lawsuits as well:
Fracking Companies Silence Water Complaints With Sealed SettlementsChris and Stephanie Hallowich were sure drilling for natural gas near their Pennsylvania home was to blame for the headaches, burning eyes and sore throats they suffered after the work began. The companies insisted hydraulic fracturing – the technique they used to free underground gas – wasn’t the cause.
Delaware State Legislature Calls on the First State’s Congressional Delegation to Overturn Citizens UnitedBipartisan Letter Signed by House and Senate Majorities DOVER, DE- A majority of members in both of Delaware’s state legislative chambers have signed on to a letter seeking support and action by Delaware’s Congressional delegation for Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment reversing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v.
DHS insider: It’s about to get Very Ugly“Everyone needs to reflect on the United States having become obsessed with national security, even to the extent of gutting our Bill of Rights and turning the country into a “surveillance society”.
Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of AmericaIn my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an “executive coup” against the US constitution.
Assange: US rule of law suffering ‘calamitous collapse’AFP – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that the US justice system was suffering from a “calamitous collapse in the rule of law”, as Washington reeled from the sensational exposure of vast spy agency surveillance programmes.
The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day.
In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how the federal criminal justice system has become dangerously disconnected from common law traditions of due process and fair notice of the law’s expectations, enabling prosecutors to pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to”white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the continued functioning and integrity of our constitutional democracy hang in the balance.
Unprecedented Wealth, Debt Slavery and Conditioned ConsciousnessSeventeen years ago, I read a book called The Evolving Self. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, it profoundly affected the direction of my life. Here’s the section of the book that became a splinter in my mind and resonated the most with me: “In order to gain control of consciousness, we must learn how to moderate the biases built into the machinery of the brain.
Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional SurveillanceIn the midst of revelations that the government has conducted extensive top-secret surveillance operations to collect domestic phone records and internet communications, the Justice Department was due to file a court motion Friday in its effort to keep secret an 86-page court opinion that determined that the government had violated the spirit of federal surveillance laws and engaged in unconstitutional spying.
Silicon Valley Joins the Surveillance State“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” President Barack Obama said today. Honestly, we didn’t think anyone was. If he intended to be reassuring, his words had the opposite effect. The president’s remarks in defense of the government’s vast electronic surveillance programs help explain why U.S. citizens — and, not incidentally, U.S.
Public Documents Contradict Claim Email Spying Foiled Terror PlotDefenders of the American government’s online spying program known as “PRISM” claimed Friday that the suddenly controversial secret effort had saved New York City’s subways from a 2009 terrorist plot led by a young Afghan-American, Najibullah Zazi.
Alleged Anonymous hacker raided by FBI after exposing Ohio rape scandalA 26-year-old Kentucky man says the FBI raided his home earlier this year in an attempt to investigate two hacker groups and the role they played in exposing the players linked to a high-profile rape case in Steubenville, Ohio.
Timeline of NSA Domestic SpyingAll of the evidence found in this timeline can also be found in the Summary of Evidence we submitted to the court in Jewel v. NSA. It is intended to recall all the credible accounts and information of the NSA’s domestic spying program found in the media, congressional testimony, books, and court actions.
Hacker Faces More Jail Time Than The Convicted Steubenville Rapists He ExposedA 26-year-old farm dweller who helped expose the rape of a teenage girl is facing up to 5x more jail time than the high school football members who publicly assaulted the girl.
