The Irrationality of Giving Up This Much Liberty to Fight Terror - Conor Friedersdorf When confronted by far deadlier threats, Americans are much less willing to cede freedom and privacy. Reuters The image is still powerful, isn't it? So are the anger, and the memories. Most Americans don't just remember where they were on September 11, 2001 -- they remember feeling frightened. Along with anger, that's one emotion I felt, despite watching the attacks from a different continent. But like most people, I've never let fear of terrorism stop me from enjoying life's opportunities and pleasures. As individuals, Americans are generally good at denying al-Qaeda the pleasure of terrorizing us into submission. Of course we should dedicate significant resources and effort to stopping terrorism. Let's put that in context. 71,372 died of diabetes.29,573 were killed by guns.13,290 were killed in drunk driving accidents. That's what things looked like at the all-time peak for deaths by terrorism. Again, terrorists killed roughly 3,000 people in the United States. Certainly not me!
» Homeland Security to Assume Control of Surveillance Blimps Alex Jones Federal agency ignores Fourth Amendment within 100 mile “constitution free zone” Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com August 20, 2013 The Department of Homeland Security is to assume control of surveillance blimps used to monitor the US-Mexico border, a disconcerting development given that the federal agency considers all areas 100 miles inland of the border to be ‘constitution-free zones’ within which the Fourth Amendment does not apply. Image: YouTube DHS will now oversee the giant tethered blimps, used ostensibly to look out for drug smugglers, which are located in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. “Spokesman Bill Brooks of the Customs and Border Protection told the Yuma Sun that the department accepted the Aerostat system from the Air Force earlier this summer and will manage and maintain it for the foreseeable future,” reports the Arizona Daily Star. See a map of the “constitution-free zone” below. Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. Breaking!
U.S. filmmaker repeatedly detained at border One of the more extreme government abuses of the post-9/11 era targets U.S. citizens re-entering their own country, and it has received far too little attention. With no oversight or legal framework whatsoever, the Department of Homeland Security routinely singles out individuals who are suspected of no crimes, detains them and questions them at the airport, often for hours, when they return to the U.S. after an international trip, and then copies and even seizes their electronic devices (laptops, cameras, cellphones) and other papers (notebooks, journals, credit card receipts), forever storing their contents in government files. No search warrant is needed for any of this. No oversight exists. And there are no apparent constraints on what the U.S. This government abuse has received some recent attention in the context of WikiLeaks. But the case of Laura Poitras, an Oscar-and Emmy-nominated filmmaker and intrepid journalist, is perhaps the most extreme.
The Military’s Surveillance Blimp Can Spy Constantly for Nearly Three Weeks A blimp might not be the most stealthy of warfare equipment, but it is what’s coming to the nation’s capital to act as a defense watchdog. The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) developed by Raytheon will provide extensive, long-term surveillance in a trial where it will watch over the Washington, D.C. area. JLENS completed a testing phase that brings it closer to being used by soldiers. (Image: Raytheon) The JLENS recently completed a set of complex scenarios by the U.S. “Completing EUT proved both the maturity of JLENS and that our soldiers are ready to employ this system wherever and whenever their nation needs them,” Dean Barten, the U.S. Raytheon’s JLENS program director Doug Burgess described these tests as “when the training wheels come off” for the blimp, giving soldiers a chance to use the system “the same way they would fight.” The Aberdeen Proving Ground is a military facility located just outside of Baltimore in Maryland.
Tennessee v. Garner Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985)[1], was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that under the Fourth Amendment, when a law enforcement officer is pursuing a fleeing suspect, he or she may use deadly force only to prevent escape if the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. Facts and procedural history[edit] Hymon acted according to a Tennessee state statute and official Memphis Police Department policy authorizing deadly force against a fleeing suspect. The statute provided that "if, after notice of the intention to arrest the defendant, he either flee or forcibly resist, the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest." Majority opinion[edit] White examined the common law rule on this matter and its rationale. On the basis of the facts found by the district court, Hymon had no reason to believe that Garner was armed or dangerous.
Operation Aztec Silence US European Command (EUCOM) established Joint Task Force Aztec Silence (JTFAS) under the Commander of the US Sixth Fleet in December 2003 to counter trans-national terrorism in the under-governed areas of Northern Africa (and later Western Africa) and to build closer alliances with those governments as part of Operation Aztec Silence. In support of this, US Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets based in Sigonella, Sicily were used to collect and share information with partner nations and their militaries. This robust cooperative ISR effort was augmented by the release of intelligence collected by national assets. EUCOM continued coordination with the services to increase ISR assets and analytical resources to effectively prosecute the Global War on Terrorism. Unmanned air, surface, and sub-surface persistent surveillance platforms would be essential to forward operations based on a reduced footprint in theater.
Poll: Nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe in angels In this photo released by the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Nov. 8, 2011, is seen a fresco painted by Giotto in the famed basilica, where an art historian has spied a horned devil hidden in the frescoed clouds. The Franciscans say the surprising detail had likely escaped notice for eight centuries despite all the attention that Giotto's cycle of frescoes receives from art lovers in the upper level of the basilica. AP Photo/Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, ho Angels don't just sing at Christmastime. Belief is primarily tied to religion, with 88 percent of Christians, 95 percent of evangelical Christians and 94 percent of those who attend weekly religious services of any sort saying they believe in angels. But belief in angels is fairly widespread even among the less religious. Beyond the religious gap, women are more likely than men to believe angels are real, and those over 30 are more apt than younger adults to think they exist.
The Israeli “art student” mystery In January 2001, the security branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency began to receive a number of peculiar reports from DEA field offices across the country. According to the reports, young Israelis claiming to be art students and offering artwork for sale had been attempting to penetrate DEA offices for over a year. The Israelis had also attempted to penetrate the offices of other law enforcement and Department of Defense agencies. Strangest of all, the “students” had visited the homes of numerous DEA officers and other senior federal officials. As a pattern slowly emerged, the DEA appeared to have been targeted in what it called an “organized intelligence gathering activity.” Reports of the mysterious Israelis with an inexplicable interest in peddling art to G-men came in from more than 40 U.S. cities and continued throughout the first six months of 2001. The “art students” followed a predictable modus operandi. But inside the DEA, the Fox piece reverberated.
Scranton's Public Workers Now Paid Minimum Wage The city of Scranton, Pa., sent out paychecks to its employees Friday, like it does every two weeks. But this time the checks were much smaller than usual. Mayor Chris Doherty has reduced everyone's pay — including his own — to the state's minimum wage: $7.25 an hour. Doherty says his city has run out of money. Scranton has had financial troubles for a couple of decades — the town has been losing population since the end of World War II. Doherty wants to raise taxes to fill a $16.8-million gap. "I'm trying to do the best I can with the limited amount of funds that I have," Doherty says, "I want the employees to get paid. After paying workers Friday, the city had only about $5,000 left in the bank. Scranton's public workers received a few days' warning this was coming. "Don't know how I'm going to pay bills at home. The firefighters' union, along with the police and public works unions, have taken the city to court. Copyright 2014 NPR. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. BRADY: Yeah.
Does Classified Research Corrupt an Academic Institution? | Ten Miles Square September 12, 2013 12:50 PMDoes Classified Research Corrupt an Academic Institution? By Rachel Cohen This week Johns Hopkins University received quite a bit of bad press for asking one of their faculty members, Matthew D. Green, to take down a blog post he wrote regarding recent encryption revelations associated with the National Security Agency (NSA). As an undergraduate enrolled at Hopkins, I followed the story closely, beginning with Green’s initial tweets midday Monday, to eventually much larger national news coverage in places like ProPublica, The Atlantic, and The Huffington Post by Monday evening. While Douglas’ apology was enough to resolve this particular incident , it raises a host of questions. These questions require taking a closer look at the nature of an elite research university that is both publicly committed to the free and open exchange of ideas while simultaneously conducting classified research unbeknownst to the larger academic community.
The German Experiment That Placed Foster Children with Pedophiles Two politicians from the Green Party, which has championed the rights of sexual minorities, accused the AfD of manipulating the victims. “What the AfD is trying to do, to instrumentalize this crime for its own purposes, is unacceptable,” a representative said. Schweer, the AfD adviser, tried to find a lawyer who could advocate for Marco in a civil lawsuit. “I stand up for a friend, the victim of the so-called Kentler experiment,” he wrote in an e-mail to a large Berlin law firm. Marco had already filed a criminal complaint, but the investigation was limited because Henkel had died in 2015. Marco and Sven tried to file civil lawsuits against the state of Berlin and the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district, the location of the youth-welfare office, for breach of official duties. Marco went to visit one of Henkel’s foster sons from the “first generation,” as he put it, to see if he wanted to join his and Sven’s legal efforts. Marco drove to Henkel’s old property and walked toward the house.