The War on Weed: Still Expensive, Racist, and Failed. Photo via Flickr User Taber Andrew Bain For years, anti-drug-war advocates have been saying, over and over again, that arresting people for possessing controlled substances overcrowds prisons, wastes resources, and destroys communities.
Yet little has changed at the federal level. In fact, during Obama’s first three years as president, the arrest rate for marijuana possession was about 5 percent higher than the average rate under George W. Bush. IRS actually fears man who doesn’t file taxes. Text smaller Text bigger Amid an unusual spotlight on IRS conduct, a Colorado businessman contends his case is one the government particularly wants to keep hidden, because it could cause the whole federal agency to self-destruct.
Jeff Maehr, a Colorado chiropractor who has engaged in a number of business ventures, including PureHealthSystems.com, admits he has refused to file federal income tax returns since 2002, but he says the IRS is afraid to press criminal charges against him. Breaking the Taboo: Why the OAS Report on Alternatives to Drug Prohibition is Such A Big Deal. May 23, 2013 - By Daniel Robelo The Organization of American States (OAS) released an unprecedented report last Friday that presents the most high-level discussion of alternatives to drug prohibition in history.
This report is a big deal. Monsanto Found Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in Landmark Case. A French farmer who can no longer perform his routine farming duties because of permanent pesticide injuries has had his day in court, literally, and the perpetrator of his injuries found guilty of chemical poisoning.
The French court in Lyon ruled that Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller formula, which contains the active ingredient alachlor, caused Paul Francois to develop lifelong neurological damage that manifests as persistent memory loss, headaches, and stuttering during speech. Reports indicate that the 47-year-old farmer sued Monsanto back in 2004 after inhaling the Lasso product while cleaning his sprayer tank equipment. Killing al-Awlaki - Glenn Greenwald on Real Time. What rights should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get and why does it matter? (updated below [Sun.])
Shortly before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an American citizen, was apprehended last night, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham advocated on Twitter that the Boston Marathon bombing suspect be denied what most Americans think of as basic rights. Tortured for Testimony: Anarchists Get Solitary Confinement for Not Snitching. Five Basic Misconceptions About The Copyright Monopoly And Sharing Of Culture. Five erroneous assertions have kept appearing in the public debate since 1990 about file-sharing vs. the copyright monopoly.
These assertions have persisted for 25 years, despite being obviously false. ‘Iraq war unlawful’: all 27 UK Foreign Affairs lawyers, 2003. ‘Official report delayed again’: UK govt today. More Than Thirty Top U.S. Officials Guilty of War Crimes. More than 30 top U.S. officials, including presidents G.W. Bush and Obama, are guilty of war crimes or crimes against peace and humanity “legally akin to those perpetrated by the former Nazi regime in Germany,” the distinguished American international law authority Francis Boyle charges. U.S. officials involved in an “ongoing criminal conspiracy” in the Middle East and Africa who either participated in the commission of the crimes under their jurisdiction or failed to take action against them included both presidents since 2001 and their vice-presidents, the secretaries of State and Defense, the directors of the CIA and National Intelligence and the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and heads of the Central Command, among others, Boyle said.
In the Pentagon, war criminals include the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and some Regional Commanders-in-Chiefs, especially for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and more recently, AFRICOM. Besides Chairman General Martin Dempsey, U.S. Former Washington, Colorado cops explain: What’s really going to change now that marijuana is legal? By Stephen C.
WebsterThursday, November 8, 2012 12:14 EDT Following wins for marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado on Tuesday night, a former Seattle police chief and a former Denver police officer sat down with Raw Story to discuss what the laws will actually do and how they think things will change. The remarkable, unfathomable ignorance of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. On 29 May 2012, the New York Times published a remarkable 6,000-word story on its front page about what it termed President Obama's "kill list".
It detailed the president's personal role in deciding which individuals will end up being targeted for assassination by the CIA based on Obama's secret, unchecked decree that they are "terrorists" and deserve to die. Based on interviews with "three dozen of his current and former advisers", the Times' Jo Becker and Scott Shane provided extraordinary detail about Obama's actions, including how he "por[es] over terrorist suspects' biographies on what one official calls the macabre 'baseball cards'" and how he "insist[s] on approving every new name on an expanding 'kill list'".
At a weekly White House meeting dubbed "Terror Tuesdays", Obama then decides who will die without a whiff of due process, transparency or oversight. The Desktop Regulatory State. Obama wins right to indefinitely detain Americans under NDAA. Push to call blasphemy a crime. Pushing for limits to free speech ...
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. Editorial: Initiative 502 pits the people of Washington against the federal government. In the 1990s the people of Washington wanted marijuana for use as medicine.
Federal law forbade it, and politicians in Olympia would not push back. The people turned to the initiative power. In 1998 they passed Initiative 692, making Washington one of the early medical-marijuana states along with Alaska, Oregon and California. Now 18 states and the District of Columbia allow cannabis for medicinal use, and a push begins in the early states to allow it for general use.
Again, federal law says no. How big business took over. It is one of those intriguing ironies of history that the immediate provocation for Lewis Powell’s political manifesto to Corporate America — his powerful private memorandum of 1971 — came not from a liberal Democrat in the White House, but from Republican Richard Nixon, the very president who was about to name Lewis Powell to the Supreme Court. Powell’s intention was to spark a full-scale political rebellion by America’s corporate leaders — what one writer called “the Revolt of the Bosses” — to change the political and policy mainstream in Washington and to put the nation on a new track, a track more favorable to business.
"Effective Evil" or Progressives’ Best Hope? Glen Ford vs. Michael Eric Dyson on Obama Presidency. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! , democracynow.org, "Breaking With Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency," as we turn to our two guests for a discussion and debate about President Obama’s speech and record.
We turn to Michael Eric Dyson, who’s joining us here in Charlotte, North Carolina, professor of sociology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., author of many books, including Can You Hear Me Now? Portugal Drug Policy: Decriminalization Works. Markey: Law Enforcement Collecting Information on Millions of Americans from Mobile Phone Carriers. Skip to main content News Markey: Law Enforcement Collecting Information on Millions of Americans from Mobile Phone Carriers Share this page Congressman releases first-ever accounting of responses from wireless carriers that indicate sweeping personal data requests from law enforcement agencies.
US drone strikes target rescuers in Pakistan – and the west stays silent. The US government has long maintained, reasonably enough, that a defining tactic of terrorism is to launch a follow-up attack aimed at those who go to the scene of the original attack to rescue the wounded and remove the dead. Morally, such methods have also been widely condemned by the west as a hallmark of savagery. Yet, as was demonstrated yet again this weekend in Pakistan, this has become one of the favorite tactics of the very same US government. NRC-2006. Anthony Gregory: Then, Who DID Build It, Mr. President? No Copyright Law: The Real Reason for Germany's Industrial Expansion? Kill or Capture: Obama's Troubling Targeted-Killing Policy. On September 30, 2011, in a northern province of Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and a senior figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, finished his breakfast and walked with several companions to vehicles parked nearby.
SHOCKING : CALIFORNIA COPS OPEN FIRE ON MEN - WOMEN - CHILDREN - BABIES. Is the End of Prohibition at Hand? Conservatism. The Word - Sink or Swim - The Colbert Report - 2012-04-06. Real Time with Bill Maher 25 may 2012 in HD New Rules pt. 2. Mother of 3 arrested, abused for taking pictures of tourist attraction at airport Federal judge complicity. First They Come For the Muslims. CISPA: Say Hello To Big Brother. Let's Be Blunt: It's Time to End the Drug War. Separate Justice System for Muslims. Since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, genuine concerns about national security as well as politicking and fear have led to a shift in the balance between civil liberties and law enforcement.
The Most Transparent Administration Ever™ Revealed: government plans for police privatisation. Private companies could take responsibility for investigating crimes, patrolling neighbourhoods and even detaining suspects under a radical privatisation plan being put forward by two of the largest police forces in the country. West Midlands and Surrey have invited bids from G4S and other major security companies on behalf of all forces across England and Wales to take over the delivery of a wide range of services previously carried out by the police. The Facts About Americans Who Receive Public Benefits. The DOJ’s escalating criminalization of speech. Over the past several years, the Justice Department has increasingly attempted to criminalize what is clearly protected political speech by prosecuting numerous individuals (Muslims, needless to say) for disseminating political views the government dislikes or considers threatening.
U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners. @Google: Lawrence Lessig: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It. Glenn Greenwald at the Cato Institute's "Ending the Global War on Drugs" Conference. Richunclesam comments on If American copyright laws can be enforced around the world, why can't American labor and slavery laws be enforced worldwide as well? "He Says One Thing and Does Another": Ralph Nader Responds to Obama’s State of the Union Address. Two lessons from the Megaupload seizure. Supreme Court Says Congress May Re-Copyright Public Domain Works. PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed.
Chris Hedges Sues Obama Admin Over Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens Approved in NDAA. Why I’m Suing Barack Obama - Chris Hedges' Columns. Tech Blackout to Protest SOPA. US elections, rigged and computer codes. ELECTION FRAUD! How A Teen's Coerced Confession Set Her Free. President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Into Law » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union. Progressives and the Ron Paul fallacies. The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value.
Obama's abysmal record on civil liberties. Anonymous declares cyber war on Congress over indefinite detention act. Three myths about the detention bill. ACLU On Obama's Plan To Detain American Citizens INDEFINITELY With No Trial. The Desktop Regulatory State. Obama: I can’t comment on Wall Street prosecutions. The young and the restless: Kids sue government over climate change. Shockingly Unshocking: Two Congressional Staffers Who Helped Write SOPA/PIPA Become Entertainment Industry Lobbyists. The US national security smokescreen. Halliburton Confirms US Concentration Camps Ready to Detain up to 2 Million “Terrorists” « Dr. Steve Best.
Proof Obama will sign NDAA 1031 Citizen Imprisonment Law in a few days. Tell Congress: Say NO to Indefinite Detention and Endless Worldwide War. The We-Are-At-War! mentality. 75 Years in Prison For Videotaping Police. NYPD pepper sprays man to death. No, `both sides’ aren’t equally to blame for supercommittee failure - The Plum Line.
Washington Post Column Incredulous That Congress Is Considering Censoring The Internet. The New Progressive Movement. Why your vote for Congress might not matter. Failure Is Good. American Censorship Day November 16 - Join the fight to stop SOPA. Congress: Trading stock on inside information? The Privatization of Copyright Lawmaking. Robert Reich Debunks 6 Big GOP Lies About The Economy. The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery? The right of citizens to videotape police - latimes.com. The Quiet Coup - Magazine. The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality - Yemen. The two-tiered justice system: an illustration.