Posts filed under ‘We the People’
Don’t Like Citizens United? Turn the TV Off
Antonin Scalia is a simple-minded asshat unworthy of the position he’s in:
Photo: Adm Golub / The San Francisco Chronicle
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Scalia was asked about the [Citizens United] decision during a presentation before the South Carolina Bar on Saturday, exactly two years after the court handed down the 5-4 decision in the case that led to the rise of Super PACs. They are outside groups affiliated with candidates that can take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidate.
“I don’t care who is doing the speech – the more the merrier,” Scalia said. “People are not stupid. If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”
Yo Tony, people are stupid. They don’t turn their TV off. They watch and they get brainwashed.
(Hear me screaming now?)
I’m going to bed. I’m walking people through a food bank tomorrow.
The Language of the Unheard
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view… But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
Something to think about as we head into an election year during which the voice Washington will hear is the voice that “speaks” with money.
We’re all unheard now.
Free Speech — As Long as the Government Approves
This would be our quote of the day (and maybe of the year), from Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay military base/prison in Cuba. He resigned in 2007, protesting political interference in the military commissions of Guantánamo prisoners. He was a guest this morning on DemocracyNow! on a show marking the 10th anniversary of the United States detaining prisoners there.
Photo: Wikipedia
Yeah, I—as I said, I was very optimistic when President Obama took office that he was going to follow through on what he promised [to close Gitmo within a year of taking office]. You know, I believed in hope and change. When he began to backpedal, I wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that accused—that said it was a double standard, what we were doing. And I got my termination notice the next day. So, it was disappointing I spent 25 years defending the Constitution, and then to be told that it didn’t apply to me. You know, we have free speech for everyone that has nothing to say. But if you have an opinion, then it’s speak at your own peril. And so, I was fired for expressing an opinion.
Davis was fired for expressing an opinion by the administration of Mr. Hope and Change Constitutional lawyer, Barack Obama. If a president who’s a Constitutional lawyer will fire someone for exercising their freedom of speech, anyone will.
(If you’d like to hear more of what Col. Davis had to say, see the “rushed transcript” or the video at the DemocracyNow! link above.)
Law Enforcement Asked Google to “Remove Videos of Police Brutality”
Check out this Google “Transparency Report:”
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.
Thanks to Google for not complying with the request but woohah, it’s pretty darn scary that a “law enforcement agency” would make a request directly in conflict with laws regarding freedom of speech. If they’re embarrassed about their acts of police brutality, maybe they shouldn’t beat people anymore, rather than attempt to delete evidence that they did.
Seven Occupy Protesters in Texas Charged with a FELONY
Geez. The more I hear about Texas, the more I never want to go there:
Seven Occupy protesters were indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Houston on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office says, in connection with their demonstration at the local port as part of a national day of action by the movement.
The decision comes nearly a week after a judge initially dismissed the charges, saying the protesters could not be charged with possessing or using a “criminal instrument” – a felony in Texas – for their use of PVC pipe.
The protesters — three from Austin, four from Houston — put their arms through the pipe and used latches on it to connect together, making their arrest more difficult but not preventing it, said one of their attorneys, Daphne Silverman, of the National Lawyer’s Guild in Houston. Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, confirmed the indictment.
“They are feeling, ‘wow,’ is the word. … They’re in a lot of shock. They were very happy with the justice’s decision last week, they believed in her, they believed in the justice system,” Silverman said. “These people … are not criminals. These folks are out there attempting to make the country better for all of us.”
[...]
The protesters had joined with other Occupy outfits across the country that were conducting port shutdowns on Dec. 12 to economically disrupt what they called “Wall Street on the waterfront.”
Arrests on felony arrests were occurring in other cities, such as Denver and New York. Civil rights lawyers have suggested the use of felony charges was another form of crackdown on the movement.
The Houston Police Department has used the “criminal instrument” against protesters on previous occasions, according to Attorney Randall Kallinen, who is representing one of the seven protesters. The charge usually does not hold up in court in such cases, but because it is a felony charge it has a chilling effect on would-be activists, he said.
So they’re charging Occupy protesters with felonies for linking together with PVC pipe –it would be funny if it weren’t so serious — and now they face up to two years in prison. Last I looked, not one of the banksters who brought down the world’s economy have even been charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Gosh. Don’t you just love how “justice” is dispensed in the good ol’ US of A? And isn’t it interesting the way the judicial system seems to be working to intimidate the Occupy movement on behalf of the corporatocracy?
Obama Administration Issues Rote Statement About the Brutal Egyptian Military
If the United States (it contributes $2 billion annually to the Egyptian “military”) doesn’t say something stronger than this
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday she was “deeply concerned” about continuing violence in Egypt and urged Egyptian security forces to respect the rights of protesters
about this,
12-17-11 -- Reuters
who will?
Lowe’s: UnAmerican, Hateful Bigots
You probably heard that Lowe’s,
sided with the “Florida Family Association” (what a deceitful name), and pulled its ads from the TLC show “All-American Muslim” the other day.
Unfortunately for the artificially patriotic, flag waving Lowe’s, this would be the First Amendment of the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Note to Lowe’s: It ain’t easy being a democracy. Sometimes you have to actually read the Constitution and digest and comprehend what it means. Then you have to fight to uphold it.
The “Florida Family Association” doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Constitution. All it cares about is its private, hateful agenda.
Lowe’s: Are you a hater or do you love what the United States of America has stood for since its inception?
Slap Your Face Quotes from the Durban Climate Change Conference
I haven’t put up any posts about the climate change conference that took place over the last two weeks in Durban, South Africa because because, well, because of a general sense of outrage overload and a feeling that nothing would get done there.
I’ve been peeking in on it and now though and now that the conference has ended, I’m reading some summaries that pretty much confirm what I feared. Like this one from CommonDreams. (This is the second half of an article you can read in its entirety at the link above.)
Chris Huhne hailed the conclusion of the talks as “a triumph of European co-operation”.
I’m thinking we need worldwide cooperation, not just European cooperation.
“We have taken a significant step forward. This will give business confidence and stop us locking in a whole generation of high-carbon technology,” he said.
I’m sick beyond belief of thinking about giving “business confidence.” How about we give the planet and We the People confidence once and for all already?
But Martin Khor, director of the intergovernmental South Center in Geneva, said poor countries would be obliged to cut emissions proportionally more than the rich. “It’s like the starving will be made to give up half their small amount of food but the rich just a bit,” he said.
The powerful countries shit on the little ones.
Green groups said the ambition shown by countries to reduce emissions was paltry. “Negotiators have sent a clear message to the world’s hungry: let them eat carbon,” said Celine Charveriat, director of campaigns and advocacy for Oxfam.
When will the rich and powerful countries come to grips with the fact that we’re all in this together?
“Governments must immediately turn their attention to raising the ambition of their emissions cuts targets and filling the Green Climate Fund. Unless countries ratchet up their emissions cuts urgently we could still be in store for a 10-year timeout on the action we need to stay under two degrees [of temperature increase].”
Greenpeace International director Kumi Naidoo said: “The chance of averting catastrophic climate change is slipping through our hands with every passing year that nations fail to agree on a rescue plan for the planet.”
“This will force governments to admit their current pledges to cut emissions are not enough to achieve 2C rise and will have to be strengthened,” said Michael Jacobs, of the Grantham climate research institute of climate change.
Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, said: “Delaying real action till 2020 is a crime of global proportions.
“This means the world is on track to a 4C temperature rise, a death sentence for Africa, small island states and the poor and vulnerable worldwide. The richest 1% of the world have decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice the 99%.“
I have friends and neighbors who have babies. Babies as in cherubic 7-week-olds and enthusiastic 2-year-olds. When I look at them I wonder what kind of world they will live in when they’re 30 or 40 or 60. I think it will be awful.
Martha Coakley Becomes First Sitting AG to Support Overturning Citizens United
I think it’s just astounding that it has taken until today — December 9, 2011 — for the first sitting Attorney General in the United States to come out in support of repealing Citizens United, a ruling that was handed down in January, 2010. I.e., we’ve had almost two years of silence from the top law lawyers in the country.
Really sad and so indicative of the hold the corporatocracy has on our elected officials.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has become the first sitting state attorney general in the United States to support a constitutional amendment to overturn the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling issued in January 2010. The ruling swept away a century of precedent barring corporate expenditures in US elections and has unleashed a torrent of unlimited corporate money in the political process.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, Attorney General Coakley issued a letter to the chairs of the Massachusetts state senate and state house judiciary committees declaring support for a pending resolution that calls on Congress to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment restoring free speech and fair elections to the people.
Denver Police Trash Occupy Protesters in Emails
A slew of “car-to-car” emails exchanged by members of the Denver Police Department about Occupy Denver protesters have surfaced. “Denver Police spokesman Lieutenant Matt Murray concedes that some of them are unprofessional.”
Ya think?
(Image via.)
There was this, “text message sent by an unidentified officer from a squad car that read in part, “A few of us set up a Twitter account to harass the ‘Occupy Denver’ people.”
And this, showing an utter lack of understanding of what the Occupy movement is all about:
“They’re supporting the same BS protests that are going on on Wall Street. The typical ‘Tax the Rich’ ‘Eff the Cops’ anarchist crap.”
“Denver protesters are too pathetic for us to have anything like that.”
“lol, that might not be a bad thing… at least we aren’t in the media ;) — for now that is.”
“If you think about it, large scale protests are a good way to waste city money and possibly cripple the system.”
And this:
“I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of the… they would probably scatter real quick.”
Another set of messages refers to the protesters as “stupid” and “retards.”
Here’s a log of all the texts that have been released.
So, good to know the DPD is so respectful of our first amendment rights, huh?
We’re Gonna Get Ourselves a Prison
Take a look at this video from the 1980′s.
Flora, Illinois was competing with at least 33 other communities to become the site of a new prison. Unemployment was high. In a bid to promote the town as a prison site, Flora’s former police chief recorded a song titled “All We Want’s A Prison,” but the town failed to win its bid.
So sad.
Corporations set the stage such that we beg them to come to our towns. They demand tax breaks and subsidies and this and that, all in the name of jobs, jobs, jobs. We give them those things, nixing parks and schools and roads, etc., and when they’re done sucking the life out of us, poof, they’re gone.
Bottom line is we make fools of ourselves while we in essence set ourselves up to let them make fools of us.
Newt Debuts His Divide and Conquor Theme
This would be Newt Gingrich on November 29 in Newberry, South Carolina:
On the jobs front, Gingrich says he wants to be an advocate for American products that produce American jobs and he wants to decrease dependency on the federal government.
“Barack Obama has put more people on food stamps than any president in history,” said Gingrich. “I want to be the best paycheck president in American history.”
This would be Newt Gingrich on November 30 in Council Bluffs, Iowa:
“Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash — you don’t get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don’t you want to be compassionate? You know, the Obama model: isn’t there somebody you’d like to give money to this week.
Obama’s the “food stamp president” and Newt wants to be the “paycheck president.” Divide us! It works every time.
Support Your Local Army!
I’m thinking that a time is rapidly approaching when use of the terms “police department” and “peace officer” will become obsolete, replaced instead by something like “army” and “soldier.” Here’s why:
The U.S. military has some of the most advanced killing equipment in the world that allows it to invade almost wherever it likes at will.
We produce so much military equipment that inventories of military robots, M-16 assault rifles, helicopters, armored vehicles, and grenade launchers eventually start to pile up and it turns out a lot of these weapons are going straight to American police forces to be used against US citizens.
Benjamin Carlson at The Daily reports on a little known endeavor called the “1033 Program” that gave more than $500 million of military gear to U.S. police forces in 2011 alone.
1033 was passed by Congress in 1997 to help law-enforcement fight terrorism and drugs, but despite a 40-year low in violent crime, police are snapping up hardware like never before. While this year’s staggering take topped the charts, next year’s orders are up 400 percent over the same period.
And just think, this is all being paid for by you and me. We shell out the money, the defense contractors get rich, and then the stuff they sell to the government is used against us.
It’s the military industrial complex gone berserk.
(Image via.)
Occupy the Bathroom — Drown That Job Creator Myth in the Bathtub
Why in the world aren’t we all raising our arms and shrugging our shoulders and saying hey, where are all those jobs the “jobs creators” were supposed to create? All we’ve heard for the last ten years is that we little people should put our present and future lives on hold for the “jobs creators” because they are our salvation. Wait just a sec, they say, those jobs are comin’!
Yeah? So where where the hell are they?
Tired old Newt is stuck on rerun when it comes to that:
I repudiate, and I call on the President to repudiate, the concept of the 99 and the 1. It is un-American, it is divisive, it is historically false.
When I am president, I will be president of all the American people, not part of the American people. And I will seek to unify the American people, not to divide them against each other. And I think that’s an important distinction. You are not going to get job creation when you engage in class warfare because you have to attack the very people you hope will create jobs.
(Via.)
Forget Grover Norquist. We 99%ers need to drag that job creation crap to the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.
Mike Bloomberg Brags About Having His Own “Army”
Wow, this is a revealing statement by 1%-er Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York:
“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
The moto of the New York Police Department, as inscribed on the side of NYPD police cars,
Photo: Robert Caplin for The New York Times
is: Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect. It, like all other police departments around the country, was established to protect and serve the people. The department is funded by tax dollars paid by the people of the city of New York.
Mike, you work for and are paid by the people of the city of New York too. The NYPD is not your personal army. You should disabuse yourself of that notion inmediatamente.
LA’s “Democratic” Mayor Launches a War Against People Who Want to Be Heard
This is happening in the United States of America on November 29, 2011 @ roughly 7:12 p.m. PT:
Follow Kevin Gosztola here.
Emma Sullivan is My New Hero!
I keep thinking about Emma Sullivan.
Ms. Sullivan is the 18-year-old high school senior who attended an event in Topeka, Kansas last Monday which was billed as a “Kansas Youth in Government” forum. Ms. Sullivan pissed off Kansas Governor Sam Brownback — the keynote speaker — when she sent a tweet about his speech that Brownback’s staff didn’t like.
(Apparently Brownback’s staff is sitting around in pajamas in their parents’ basement, eating Cheetos, trolling the web for negative tweets about Brownback instead of creating jobs.)
Sullivan tweeted that Brownback “sucked” and “blowsalot.”
How dare she?!
Sam – Fidel Castro — Brownback’s office (don’t forget, Brownback sets the tone for what his office does) contacted the principal at Sullivan’s school, who (being the tool that he or she is) demanded that Sullivan write a letter of apology to Brownback by today (11-28-11) or face who-knows-what kind of discipline.
Sullivan refused, and today Brownback backed down, saying his staff “overreacted.“
Overreacted? Ya think?
Anyway, this incident got a lot of press and I’m willing to bet Ms. Sullivan received some ugly tweets and possibly even death threats so her decision not to apologize can’t have been easy. That’s why I want her to know how proud I am that she stood up for her fundamental right to freedom of speech. I respect her guts.
Oh, and as for that principal — you’re a pathetic example to the kids in your school.
You are my new hero Emma!
The 2012 Federal Budget
Take a look at this:
(Via.)
59% to the military, a pittance to housing, education, health and human services, energy and transportation.
The amount spent, or rather NOT spent, on energy is particularly infuriating to me. We should be pouring billions into putting solar panels on the roof of every building in the country. How ’bout we take three or four or eight billion from the military and do that? Not only could we decrease our dependence on oil, we could put thousands of people to work. Seems like a no brainer to me.
Gov. Sam Brownback Backs Down Over Attempt to Suppress Free Speech
You probably heard about the Kansas high school student, Emma Sullivan, who sent a tweet Governor Sam Brownback didn’t like and the ensuing effort to get her to apologize. Well, she refused to apologize (YOU GO GIRL!) and now Brownback is walking the incident back:
“My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. I enjoyed speaking to the more than 100 students who participated in the Youth in Government Program at the Kansas Capitol. They are our future. I also want to thank the thousands of Kansas educators who remind us daily of our liberties, as well as the values of civility and decorum. Again, I apologize for our over-reaction.”
So ironic that this happened during a “Youth in Government Program.” Those kids got a lesson in government all right. The Joe McCarthy form of government.
As an aside, I just spent a good five minutes looking around at FoxNews.com and I can’t find one single article about this incident. They don’t want their audience to know how unAmerican Republicans can be.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
One can only imaging how long it will take for the use of drones to expand beyond the original, as-advertised intention (spotting “runaway criminals”):
The Qube fits in the trunk of a car and is controlled remotely by a tablet computer. (Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times / October 20, 2011)
Idea of Civilians Using Drone Aircraft May Soon Fly with FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration plans to propose new rules for the use of small drones in January, a first step toward clearing the way for police departments, farmers and others to employ the technology.
Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hide-outs in Afghanistan, may soon be coming to the skies near you.
Police agencies want drones for air support to spot runaway criminals. Utility companies believe they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers think drones could aid in spraying their crops with pesticides.
“It’s going to happen,” said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Assn. “Now it’s about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace.”
That’s the job of the Federal Aviation Administration, which plans to propose new rules for the use of small drones in January, a first step toward integrating robotic aircraft into the nation’s skyways.
Imagine a drone looking in as it hovers outside your kitchen window. Would the police need a warrant for that? And man oh man, is the FAA in the pocket of the Aerospace Industries Association or what? Imagine the money (our tax dollars) to be made here.
Gov. Sam Brownbeck (R-What’s the Matter With Kansas?) is Against Free Speech
Is freedom of speech dead in Kansas? I ask because Governor Sam Brownback (R) sicked the authorities on a high school girl who sent a tweet he didn’t like. Yes, unfortunately, you did read that right:
A Kansas teenager got in some trouble with her school for comments she posted on her Twitter account — in which she claimed to have trashed Gov. Sam Brownback (R) to his face during a field trip.
Emma Sullivan, an 18-year old high school senior, was at an event in Topeka this past Monday for Kansas Youth in Government, which was addressed by Brownback. During the event, Sullivan posted to her Twitter account:
Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalotBut as it turns out, Brownback’s office watches Twitter for comments about him. Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag told the event organizers about the comment, “so that they were aware what their students were saying in regards to the governor’s appearance,” the Wichita Eagle reports, also adding: “We monitor social media so we can see what Kansans are thinking and saying about the governor and his policies.”
Brownback’s office flagged the tweet to the event organizers, who in turn passed the complaint on to Sullivan’s school. This got her called to the principal’s office.
Is Brownback so insecure he’s willing to trample a high school senior’s First Amendment rights in order to intimidate people into only saying nice things about him? Apparently so.
Passing Notes
Hat’s off to the guy in the glasses:
(Via.)
A protester handed President Barack Obama a note while shaking hands along a rope line in New Hampshire today [November 22, 2011]. AP photographer Charlie Dharapak smartly zoomed in so you can read the note for yourself.
CNN Counters President Obama With Grover Norquist
Approximately 15 minutes ago, President Obama made a brief statement about the “failure” of the super committee. With that in mind, here is my Tweet of the Day:
So, that confirms it. Grover Norquist is the Republican party.
The Real Public Nuisance is the Tsunami of Big Money into Politics
If you have the time, take two minutes and 16 seconds out of your day and watch this kick-ass video with Robert Reich explaining why the Occupy folks aren’t the “nuisance,” the real “nuisance” is the “tsunami of big money into politics.”
He’s exactly right.
NYC “Foiled Terror Plot” — The Terrifying Evidence
Here is the terrifying, terrifying, evidence Michael Bloomberg displayed tonight when he announced he and his police department “foiled” a “terror plot:”
Run for your life!
Outrage Overload Links
There are many days when I come across articles or bits of info that I think are worth posting but I just don’t have the energy because of, well, pure and simple: outrage overload. So I guess my new thing is going to be, at the end of such a day, to put up a post and let you all decide what you think is important; what you want to take a look at.
So, here are my outrage overload links for today:
●●● Where governments get their surveillance technology (I’m thinking boycotts here).
●●● A slide show: Suppressing Nonviolent Dissent — An anthology of police brutality at encampments across America. Check out this tank used by police in Tampa:
What happened to “protect and serve?”
●●● Journalist Suspended from National Press Club for Aggressive Questioning of Saudi Royal. That should read: Journalist suspended for being a real journalist and for not kissing Saudi royal’s ass.
●●● Michelle Obama Booed at NASCAR Race. I’m waiting for every single Republican who said we should respect the office of the presidency “during times of war” to scream bloody murder about this. So far? Crickets.
●●● The never-to-be-missed Glenn Greenwald: The Roots of the UC-Davis Pepper Spraying. (Not the best title.) He talks about the right — on paper, as in the Constitution — of American to freedom of speech and a right to assembly but how that is rather quickly being quashed by our authoritarian government:
The genius of this approach is how insidious its effects are: because the rights continue to be offered on paper, the citizenry continues to believe it is free. They believe that they are free to do everything they choose to do, because they have been “persuaded” — through fear and intimidation — to passively accept the status quo. As Rosa Luxemburg so perfectly put it: “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” Someone who sits at home and never protests or effectively challenges power factions will not realize that their rights of speech and assembly have been effectively eroded because they never seek to exercise those rights; it’s only when we see steadfast, courageous resistance from the likes of these UC-Davis students is this erosion of rights manifest.
Pervasive police abuses and intimidation tactics applied to peaceful protesters — pepper-spray, assault rifles, tasers, tear gas and the rest — not only harm their victims but also the relationship of the citizenry to the government and the set of core political rights. Implanting fear of authorities in the heart of the citizenry is a far more effective means of tyranny than overtly denying rights.
●●● Quote of the day: From Greenwald’s piece, immediately above:
Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.
– Rosa Luxemburg.
Wow.
●●● Reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr’s:
A riot is the language of the unheard.
UCDavis Live via CBS
At 9:16 p.m. ET: Here’s a live feed from the campus of UCDavis (see below if you don’t know what’s going on there).
Granted, it’s via the corporate media — CBS — so it could go dark at any minute but it’s on now, here.
The LRAD Sound Weapon
The LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) sound blasting machine is a new tool that the increasingly militarized U.S. police departments are using as a way of, ahem, keeping the peace.
Insofar as the pupsters are in bed and the dishes are done, I thought I’d spend some time trying to find out what the LRAD sounds like.
Here it is:
Turn the volume up.
(Video via.)
Wow. Love the thought that my tax dollars are going for that.
Liberty and Justice for Some
The United States has completely lost its way:
Last week, a federal judge in Mississippi sentenced a mother of two named Anita McLemore to three years in federal prison for lying on a government application in order to obtain food stamps.
Apparently in this country you become ineligible to eat if you have a record of criminal drug offenses. States have the option of opting out of that federal ban, but Mississippi is not one of those states. Since McLemore had four drug convictions in her past, she was ineligible to receive food stamps, so she lied about her past in order to feed her two children.
The total “cost” of her fraud was $4,367. She has paid the money back. But paying the money back was not enough for federal Judge Henry Wingate.
Judge Wingate said this about McLemore:
“The defendant’s criminal record is simply abominable …. She has been the beneficiary of government generosity in state court.”
Like McLemore, fraud defendants like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank have “been the beneficiary of government generosity.” Goldman got $12.9 billion just through the AIG bailout. Citigroup got $45 billion, plus hundreds of billions in government guarantees.All of these companies have been repeatedly dragged into court for fraud, and not one individual defendant has ever been forced to give back anything like a significant portion of his ill-gotten gains. The closest we’ve come is in a fraud case involving Citi, in which a pair of executives, Gary Crittenden and Arthur Tildesley, were fined the token amounts of $100,000 and $80,000, respectively, for lying to shareholders about the extent of Citi’s debt.
Neither man was forced to admit to intentional fraud. Both got to keep their jobs.
Can you hear me screaming now?
Scott Olsen Releases First Statement
Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who was rushed to the hospital on October 25 after being hit by an Oakland Police Department “projectile” at the Occupy Oakland encampment and who suffered a fractured skull and had trouble speaking, has issued his first statement since that incident:
I’m feeling a lot better, with a long road in front of me. After my freedom of speech was quite literally taken from me, my speech is coming back but I’ve got a lot of work to do with rehab. Thank you for all your support, it has meant the world to me. You’ll be hearing more from me in the near future and soon enough we’ll see you in our streets!
