Constitutional collateral damage: Lawsuit over American drone deaths tossed out by US judgeAFP Photo/US Air Force Serious issues regarding constitutional law rose to the surface on Friday as a US federal judge dismissed a court case against the US government by families of three Americans killed in US drone strikes in Yemen.
CIA lied about torture’s effectiveness, according to unreleased Senate reportReuters / Larry Downing A Senate report found that CIA officials lied to the government and public about its post-9/11 torture program, most notably by distorting intelligence gleaned from traditional interrogations as that attained by far more brutal methods.
Manning attorney denounces unfair trial, files clemency papersWikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning did not receive a fair trial, the attorney who represented her in last year’s court-martial wrote on Wednesday, and her counsel has taken the next steps in seeking clemency from the United States military. Trial attorney David E.
GA law would give private companies unprecedented influence over probation systemGeorgia lawmakers have passed a controversial bill that, if passed, will boost the influence of for-profit firms by giving these companies some jurisdiction over state residents who are on probation.
Supreme Court Establishing “Plutocrat Rights”USA Today reports: “The Supreme Court took another step Wednesday toward giving wealthy donors more freedom to influence federal elections. The justices ruled 5-4, in a decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, that limits on the total amount of money donors can give to all candidates, committees and political parties are unconstitutional.
Official: NSA did warrantless searches of Americans’ dataClapper did not disclose the number of times the NSA had searched for Americans’ communications without a warrant as part of a program authorized under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The program targets foreigners abroad for surveillance but captures potentially large volumes of the communications of Americans in contact with those foreigners.
ACA “Conscientious Objector”CBS News reports: “March 31 has finally arrived, and with it comes the last official day for people to sign up for health insurance on the federal exchange websites.” MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., mdpnhp at gmail.com, @MFlowers8 Flowers is a pediatrician in Baltimore and co-director of PopularResistance.org.
Wealth Over WorkIt seems safe to say that “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year – and maybe of the decade.
BofA to spend $9.33 billion in FHFA settlement – The Boston GlobeNEW YORK – Bank of America will spend $9.33 billion to resolve a dispute over mortgage securities with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency sued 18 financial institutions in 2011 over their sales of mortgage securities to Fannie and Freddie.
NSA, CIA, FBI sued for refusing to disclose Mandela recordsTransparency activist Ryan Shapiro is suing three government agencies for failing to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests he filed in an attempt to uncover details about any role the United States played in the 1962 arrest of Nelson Mandela.
Brzezinski: ‘Global Political Awakening’ Making Syrian War DifficultDuring a short interview with Germany’s DW News last Monday, former US National Security Adviser and Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski commented on the growing inefficiency of war due to the increased political knowledge of the public.
Colorado approves retroactive reversal of marijuana convictionsThe Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that residents there convicted of marijuana possession before recreational weed was legalized may be eligible to have those decisions overturned. As of January 1, 2014, adults from Colorado are legally allowed to buy up to one ounce of marijuana under the state Constitution’s recently passed Amendment 64.
FBI’s secret GPS tracking memos to stay secretReuters / Stephane Mahe Two secret Justice Department memos regarding the use of location tracking technology are going to stay confidential as a result of a ruling by a US federal district court. The memos in question were originally drafted to outline the guidelines governing the use of GPS and other location-tracking devices.
Obama administration censoring records more than ever beforeReuters / Stoyan Nenov Despite promising he’d preside over the most transparent administration in United States history, President Barack Obama’s White House is setting new records with regards to not releasing government documents. Never mind Obama’s assurances on the campaign trail and the vow he made in 2009 about being ” committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”
In lawsuit, FDIC accuses 16 big banks of fraud, conspiracyThe Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued 16 big banks that set a key global interest rate, accusing them of fraud and conspiring to keep the rate low to enrich themselves. The banks include Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase in the United States.
Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.