Survivors Outraged By Lenient Sentence For Costa Concordia Captain

Costa Concordia Survivors Blast ‘Insulting’ Sentence For Captain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise disaster expressed anger over the “insulting” prison sentence given to the captain who abandoned his ship while passengers and crew were still aboard.

  Francesco Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his actions during the accident and for causing the deaths of 32 people in the wreck off the Italian coast. The punishment, handed down Wednesday by a three-judge panel in Tuscany, was 10 years short of what prosecutors had sought.

  He was given 10 years for manslaughter over the deaths, five years for causing the shipwreck when he steered too close to Giglio Island, one year for abandoning the vessel when hundreds were still aboard, and one month for downplaying the collision to maritime authorities, delaying the arrival of help.

” That’s less than four months per person who died,” said Blake Miller, from Austin, Texas, who escaped the January 2012 disaster on a lifeboat. “

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Obama’s Illegal Amnesty Forces Creation Of Yet Another State Bureaucracy To Handle The Influx Of “Future Democrats”

Feds Build Bureaucracy To Deal With Obama Amnesty Application Onslaught

 

 

 

” The government expects so many applications for President Obama’s new deportation amnesty that it’s seeking a contractor just to open the new mail and enter the forms into the system, with plans to operate two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every workday to keep up with the anticipated workload.

  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency charged with approving the applications, expects more than 800,000 applications in just the first two and a half months, or a 70 percent surge compared to last year’s total intake for the entire agency. Over the first 18 or so months, the agency will process more than 4 million pieces of mail related to the larger part of the new amnesty, according to contracting documents.

  All applications must be opened in the presence of two workers, one with “secret” security clearance, in order to maintain integrity of the applications, and mail may need to be X-rayed for security reasons, the documents show.

“ USCIS is building the additional capacity needed to begin accepting requests for upcoming immigration initiatives,” the agency said in a statement to The Washington Times. “USCIS is on pace to have several hundred employees on board and trained by mid-May, which will ensure every case processed by USCIS receives a thorough, case-by-case review under our guidelines.”

  But one former USCIS executive testified to Congress last week that the agency is going to be overwhelmed by the volume of applications and the truncated approval process.

“ It’s going to be hard to tell how much fraud there is,” said Luke Bellocchi, a former deputy ombudsman for USCIS, as he testified to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week.”

 

   Read all about this latest unforeseen expense of Obama’s attempt to create a “permanent democratic majority” at the Washington Times .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ESL Spending For Illegals Forcing Schools To Cut Back On Programs For Native Born

Illegal Immigrants Squeeze School Budgets

 

 

 

” Washington-area schools are facing budget crises as a result of an influx of immigrant students, according to a recent report.

  Since the 2005-06 school year, the percent of students enrolled in English proficiency classes has increased by an average of nearly 70 percent across seven school districts in the D.C. metro area, according to a report by the advocacy group, Federation for American Immigration Reform, which promotes tighter border security, an end to illegal immigration and reduced levels of legal immigration.

  Those classes cost an average of about one quarter of each district’s budget, and the chunk is getting larger as new students, many of them illegal immigrants or children of illegal immigrants, enroll in English-as-a-second-language classes.

  Disproportionate enrollment increases in the English-learner classes is troubling, because non-English speakers can cost up to twice as much as their proficient counterparts, according to the report.

“ Education experts have long realized that the cost of educating a student who is not proficient in English far exceeds the amount actually allocated,” the report said.”

 

Washington Examiner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Annual Number Of Expatriate Americans Increases Five-Fold Since 2009 … Change You Can Believe In

Record 3,415 Americans Give Up Citizenship

 

 

 

 

” While politicians are focused on all the foreigners who want to become Americans, perhaps they should consider all the Americans who are becoming foreigners.

  According to the latest data from the Treasury Department, spotted by Andrew Mitchel at the International Tax Blog, a record 3,415 Americans renounced their citizenship in 2014. That was up from the 2,999 in 2013 and more than triple the number for 2012.

  You can read the list of individuals who renounced here. “

 

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An Intrepid Reporter Asks: “What Happens If 20 Million Illegal Aliens Went Home”

An Email From A Friend

 

 

 

 

” Tina Griego is (was) a Free-Lance reporter for the Denver Post . She writes some really good stuff and she is a strong advocate for LEGAL immigration … Homework on issues is part of her make-up and fabric …

What if they left?

  Somebody really did their homework on this one.  Best on the subject to date.  It does not have a political slant to it, it’s just the facts:  Not Democratic, not Republican, not liberal and not conservative.

What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America?

 

  I, Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, “Mexican Visitor’s Lament.” 

  I interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week.  Hernandez said, “Illegal aliens pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes.  What happens to your country’s economy if 20 million people go away?”

 

Hmmm, I thought, what would happen? 

So I did my due diligence, buried my nose as a reporter into the FACTS I found below.

  It’s a good question… it deserves an honest answer.  Over 80% of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped.  But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America?  The answers I found may surprise you!

 

  In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons.  It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested.  Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again. 

  In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grandchildren would move back “home,” mostly to Mexico.  That would save Colorado an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs.  It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone. 

Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens.  Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

  Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67% dropout/flunk rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages.  At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado.  Denver’s 4% unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage. 

  In Florida, 1.5  million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.

  In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience. 

  If 20 million illegal aliens returned ‘home,’ the U.S.  Economy would return to the rule of law.  Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage.  Everyone would  pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn’t be working off the books.  That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.

  No more push ‘1’ for Spanish or ‘2’ for English.  No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids.  Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches. 

  We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually.  That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country. 

  In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the ’18th Street Gang’ would vanish from our nation.  No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans!  No more foreign rapists and child molesters! 

  Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock.  Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

  America’s economy is drained.  Taxpayers are harmed.  Employers get rich.  Over $80 billion annually wouldn’t return to the aliens’ home countries by cash transfers.  Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America’s economy which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.  $8.7 trillion debt!!! 

  At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle.  At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.  Americans wouldn’t suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country – brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders. 

  Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities.  It would also put the ‘progressives’ on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11% of our greenhouse gases. 

  Over one million of Mexico’s poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, California, in what the New York Times called, ‘colonias’ or new neighborhoods.  Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta where grinding poverty, filth, diseases drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse.  They live without sewage, clean water, streets, roads, electricity, or any kind of sanitation.

  The New York Times reported them to be America’s new ‘Third World’ inside our own country.  Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonias.  (I’ve seen them personally in Texas and Arizona; it’s sickening beyond anything you can imagine.) 

  By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico.  We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life in Mexico.  We already invite a million people into our country legally annually, more than all other countries combined.  We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation.

 

It’s time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life. 

Interesting Statistics!

  Here are 14 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:

 

1. $14 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens (that’s Billion with a ‘B’)  < <http://tinyurl.com/zob77.html> http://tinyurl.com/zob77.html>

 

3. $7.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens.   < <http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html> http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html>

 

4. $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they  still cannot speak a word of English! < <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html>

 

5. $27 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. < <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html>

 

6. $3 Million Dollars ‘PER DAY’ is  spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.  That’s $1.2 Billion a year. < <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html>

 

7. 28% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens .< <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01…html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01…html>

 

8. $190 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.  < <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0610/29/ldt.01.html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0610/29/ldt.01.html>

 

9. $200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML

 

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens.  In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. < <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/ldt.01.html> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/ldt.01.html>

 

11. During the year 2005, there were 8 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from other terrorist countries.  Over 10,000 of those were middle-eastern terrorists.  Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine,  meth, heroin, crack, guns, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from  the southern border.  < <http://tinyurl.com/t9sht> http://tinyurl.com/t9sht<; <http://tinyurl.com/t9sht> http://tinyurl.com/t9sht>

 

12. The National Policy Institute, estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion  annually over a five year period.  < <http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/publications.php?b=deportation> http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/publicationsphp?b=deportation>

 

13. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $65 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin, to their families and friends.  < <http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm> http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm>

 

14. The dark side of illegal immigration:  Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States!  < <http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml> http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml>

 

Total cost a  whopping $538.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR ! 

If this doesn’t bother YOU, then just delete the message.  Otherwise, forward this to everyone YOU know!

Are you crying or laughing ? “

 

 

    While we seem to be a little behind the times seeing as how this commentary was published years ago , we felt that it was worth repeating . Although we were unable to track down a link to the original article it has been published on an endless number of blogs and websites over the past few years .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FCC Commissioner Shows Cover Of “Net Neutrality” Regulations And That’s All The Public Gets To See

Republican FCC Commissioner Slams ‘Obama’s 332-Page Plan To Regulate The Internet’

 

 

Click the pic for Mr Pai’s Twitter post and read the comments

 

 

” Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai on Friday raised the first of many criticisms to come about FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s aggressive net neutrality plan distributed to commissioners Thursday, which Pai described as “President Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet.”

  In a statement released Friday, Pai lamented the fact that the 332-page plan, which he tweeted a picture of himself holding next to a picture of Obama, won’t be released to the public until after the commission votes on its implementation later this month.

“ President Obama’s plan marks a monumental shift toward government control of the Internet. It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works,” Pai said. “The plan explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband… These new taxes will mean higher prices for consumers and more hidden fees that they have to pay.”

  In his initial cursory overview of the plan, the commissioner said it would hinder broadband investment, slow network speed and expansion, limit outgrowth to rural areas of the country and reduce Internet service provider (ISP) competition.

“ The plan saddles small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs with heavy-handed regulations that will push them out of the market,” Pai said. “As a result, Americans will have fewer broadband choices. This is no accident. Title II was designed to regulate a monopoly. If we impose that model on a vibrant broadband marketplace, a highly regulated monopoly is what we’ll get.” “

 

Daily Caller has more on the secret plans for State control of the internet 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Utah State Gov Suffers 10,000-Fold Increase In Cyber-Attacks Since NSA Opened Spy Facility

Massive Utah Cyberattacks — Up To 300 Million Per Day — May Be Aimed At NSA Facility

 

 

 

” Five years ago, Utah government computer systems faced 25,000 to 30,000 attempted cyberattacks every day.

  At the time, Utah Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires thought that was massive. “But this last year we have had spikes of over 300 million attacks against the state databases” each day: a 10,000-fold increase.

  Why? Squires says it is probably because Utah is home to the new, secretive National Security Agency computer center, and hackers believe they can somehow get to it through state computer systems.

” I really do believe it was all the attention drawn to the NSA facility. In the cyberworld, that’s a big deal,” Squires told a legislative budget committee Tuesday. “I watched as those increases jumped so much over the last few years. And talking to counterparts in other states, they weren’t seeing that amount of increase like we were.” “

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Obama Equates Christianity Of A Millennium Ago With ISIS Today

Obama: Christians Did Bad Things ‘In The Name Of Christ’

 

 

 

 

 

” President Barack Obama stirred outrage with his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, comparing the atrocities committed by ISIS to those of Christians “in the name of Christ.”

” Unless we get on our high horse and think that this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

 “So it is not unique to one group or one religion,” Obama said. “There is a tendency in us, a simple tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.” “

 

 

   Does that mean that a thousand years from now we can expect a “kinder , gentler” Islam ? Seems to us that the world has already been waiting a thousand years for the Islamic “enlightenment” . 

    Who would have guessed that an American president would be Islam’s most ardent apologist ?

 

 

   NewsMax has more on our Mullah-In-Chief’s comparison of Islamic Jihad with the Crusades . For some facts about the Crusades see here . Here is an excerpt:

 

” Until fairly recently, historically speaking, Muslims used to brag about being the winners of the Crusades, not the victims of it. That is if they talked about them at all. “The Crusades could more accurately be described as a limited, belated and, in the last analysis, ineffectual re­sponse to the jihad–a failed attempt to recover by a Christian holy war what had been lost to a Muslim holy war,” writes Bernard Lewis, the greatest living historian of Islam in the English language (and perhaps any language).⁵ Historian Thomas Madden puts it more directly, “Now put this down in your notebook, because it will be on the test: The cru­sades were in every way a defensive war. They were the West’s belated response to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world.”^{6 “}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beaten Wife Takes Care Of Cheatin’ Husband … With A Brick … LOL

Drunk Man Beats Up His Wife, Gets K.O By Flying Brick

 

 

 

 

Published on Jan 31, 2015

” According to the conversation they had on video, it all started because the wife found out that his husband was cheating her.
► Subscribe to LiveLeak Channel for more videos: http://bit.ly/subliveleak “

 

HT/Rare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Californians Subject To Months Of Waiting For DMV Thanks To Illegal Driver’s Licensing Law

Some Motorists Wait Months For DMV Appointments After Immigrants Law Goes Into Effect

 

Click pic for video

 

 

” The Department of Motor Vehicles is so overwhelmed with requests for new driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations that it can take up to three months to get an appointment or a half-day wait in the lobby.

  A DMV spokesman told KCAL9 Political Reporter Dave Bryan there has been a crush of applications for new licenses for undocumented immigrants, a program that began earlier this month. The spokesman said the DMV is working to address the problems, but some people are having to take a day off of work to handle a 15-minute transaction.

  At the Hollywood DMV office, where they handle drivers license issues, the long lines outside and packed waiting areas inside are testimony to the long, grueling process that California drivers have to endure before getting service.

  For example, Jose Quiroz’s DMV ordeal spanned two days of waiting patiently with his family to have his license renewed.

“ Yesterday, I was here for four hours standing outside, and when I got to the front line they said that they were not taking us in no more,” Quiroz told Bryan. “And now I am back here again, because I am here to fix my license, and I have been here five or six hours.”

  Quiroz says he called about a week ago to try to expedite the process.

“ I tried to make an appointment, but they wanted to give it to me in June,” he said. “That was the earliest they had, so that’s why I’m here. Because I can’t risk getting pulled over because I have my kids. I have to get my kids to school.” “

 

CBS LA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How To Survive Martial Law

A Detailed Guide

 

 

 

 

” I came across this article during the Veteran March on DC on October 13th. The grammar was pretty bad, so I did my best to clean it up.

  The guide in LONG, so it took me a while to get it in this good a shape. Whoever wrote it may not have been the best writer, but he or she certainly knows how to be prepared.

  If you find grammatical errors, I will probably spot them and have them fixed soon. I did as many as I could as fast as I could for the purposes of getting the article published ASAP.

  This article will start off assuming that the Reader is already subject to MARTIAL LAW; that is, the “suspension” of the Constitution.”

 

 

 

 

 

” Curfews, rationing of basic goods, enforced relocations, confiscation of firearms and supplies, and summary arrest/execution by soldiers, paramilitary police and other jack booted types wielding assault rifles.

  Basic survival tips will be followed with some detailed ideas on how this country should be run once we take over.

  IF you’re reading this before MARTIAL LAW is imposed by the current corrupt government, and IF you are reading this while you still nominally under Constitutional Law, it’s urgent you read from the beginning to end so as to appreciate the opportunities you currently have to not only protect yourself and yours, but to attempt to stop all of this from ever happening.

  Rule #1: NEVER TRUST THE GOVERNMENT UNLESS THEY SAY THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU … “

 

 

Read it all at Disclose.TV

 

   For those interested in the subject , this page on Bing provides many further links to “Martial Law Survival Guides”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hmm … Hedge Funders Start Prepping

Panicked Super Rich Buying Boltholes With Private Airstrips To Escape If Poor Rise Up

 

 

 

 

” Super rich hedge fund managers are buying ‘secret boltholes’ where they can hideout in the event of civil uprising against growing inequality, it has been claimed.

  Nervous financiers from across the globe have begun purchasing landing strips, homes and land in areas such as New Zealand so they can flee should people rise up.

  With growing inequality and riots such as those in London in 2011 and in Ferguson and other parts of the USA last year, many financial leaders fear they could become targets for public fury.

  Robert Johnson, president of the Institute of New Economic Thinking, told people at the World Economic Forum in Davos that many hedge fund managers were already planning their escapes.

  He said: “I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway.” “

 

 

   We would guess that the likelihood of the “poor” rising up is less a motivation for the rich man’s prepping than is the possibility of the entire economic “house of cards” collapsing .

 

The Mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You Are Being Tracked: Fed License Plate Readers Building A National Database Of Cars/Drivers

U.S. Spies On Millions Of Cars

 

 

 

 

” The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists, according to current and former officials and government documents.

  The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document. But the database’s use has expanded to hunt for vehicles associated with numerous other potential crimes, from kidnappings to killings to rape suspects, say people familiar with the matter.

  Officials have publicly said that they track vehicles near the border with Mexico to help fight drug cartels. What hasn’t been previously disclosed is that the DEA has spent years working to expand the database “throughout the United States,’’ according to one email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Many state and local law-enforcement agencies are accessing the database for a variety of investigations, according to people familiar with the program, putting a wealth of information in the hands of local officials who can track vehicles in real time on major roadways.

  The database raises new questions about privacy and the scope of government surveillance. The existence of the program and its expansion were described in interviews with current and former government officials, and in documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act request and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It is unclear if any court oversees or approves the intelligence-gathering.”

 

Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Google Turns Government Stooge , Turns Over Confidential Wikileaks Reporter Info

Google Surrendered Private Data Of WikiLeaks Journalists To US Government

 

 

 

 

” Google handed over confidential data of WikiLeaks’ staff to the U.S. government, prompting the whistleblower organization to send a letter to both the search engine giant and the U.S. Department of Justice seeking an explanation.

  WikiLeaks announced on its website on Monday that its investigations editor Sarah Harrison, section editor Joseph Farrell, and senior journalist and spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson have received a notice that Google had handed over all their emails and metadata to the U.S. government, which has issued warrants alleging “conspiracy” and “espionage” against the journalists. The charges carry a prison sentence of up to 45 years.

“ The US government is claiming universal jurisdiction to apply the Espionage Act, general Conspiracy statute and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to journalists and publishers – a horrifying precedent for press freedoms around the world,” WikiLeaks said on its website.”

 

Read more at IBT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Premiering Sunday 1.25.15: History Channel’s “Sons Of Liberty”

Sunday Marks The Premiere Of The Three Part Mini-Series “Sons Of Liberty” From The History Channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

” SONS OF LIBERTY, the three-night, six-hour event, follows a defiant and radical group of young men–Sam Adams, John Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren–as they band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” The Sons of Liberty sparked a revolution, the cast depicting them includes: Ben Barnes(The Chronicles of Narnia) as Sam Adams, a natural born leader with charisma and a penchant for mischief; Ryan Eggold (The Black List) as Dr. Joseph Warren, a doctor and man of conscience and integrity; Michael Raymond-James (Jack Reacher, Terriers, True Blood) as Paul Revere, a veteran who wholeheartedly joins forces with Sam Adams; Rafe Spall(Prometheus, Life of Pi) as John Hancock, the wealthiest man in Boston at the time; andHenry Thomas (E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Gangs of New York, Legends of the Fall) as John Adams, a lawyer and the conservative, smart cousin of Sam Adams. Additionally, Marton Csokas (Equalizer, The Lord of the Rings, Rogue) plays the ferocious General Thomas Gage who is sent to handle the colonial unrest in Boston; Emily Berrington (24: Live Another Day) as Margaret Gage; Jason O’Mara (The Good Wife, Terra Nova, Life on Mars) as General George Washington and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad, Under the Dome, Men, Women & Children) as the brilliant yet mischievous diplomat Benjamin Franklin.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, they light the spark that ignited our revolution. While many of their names have become legendary, this group of young rebels didn’t start off as noble patriots. They were a new generation of young American men from varied backgrounds, struggling to find purpose in their lives. They were looking for equality, but they found something greater: Independence.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” SONS OF LIBERTY is a dramatic interpretation of events that sparked a revolution. It is historical fiction, not a documentary. The goal of our miniseries is to capture the spirit of the time, convey the personalities of the main characters, and focus on real events that have shaped our past. For historical information about the Sons of Liberty and the dawning of the American Revolution, please read the Historian’s View section on history.com/sons. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

    There is a wealth of information to be had on the upcoming show including more videos , actor biographies , historical data , infographics and much more if you visit the webpage .

 

  We applaud the History Channel for creating this event and feel that , regardless of the political biases that will undoubtedly reveal themselves to some faction(s) of the viewing public , any piece of widely received entertainment that fosters conversation about some of our defining moments as a people around the dinner table and water cooler is a great thing indeed .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pew: Obama In One Word … “Incompetent” , But A “Good Man”

Pew: Americans Say Obama Is A “Good Man” Who Is “Incompetent”

 

 

 

 

” As President Obama finishes the touches on his seventh State of the Union Address, to be delivered tonight at 9 P.M. Eastern Time (come to Reason.com for live blogging and tweeting), here’s something he can chew on: Pew Research asked Americans to sum him up in one word.

  The most popular choices? “Good/Good man” and “Incompetent.” Intelligent is well represented as is “idiot/dumb/stupid,” honest, dictator, liar,awesome, and arrogant.

  In the interest of #realkeeping, George W. Bush was viewed similarly at this point in his presidency:

  At a comparable point in his presidency, incompetent, arrogant and honest were frequently used descriptions of George W. Bush. Bush’s approval rating was lower than Obama’s (33% for Bush then, 47% for Obama today) and negative terms were used more frequently to describe him.”

 

 

 

 

Read more from Reason and view the poll results here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Police “Flashbangs” Taking An Ever-Increasing Toll On Citizens … Over 50 Killed Or Maimed

Why Police Are Maiming, Killing With ‘Grenades’

 

 

 

 

” Following a drug tip, nearly 20 cops stormed a small apartment outside Atlanta in 2010. Invading officers found only a little weed, but managed to seriously injure resident Treneshia Dukes with a flashbang grenade—a police device that’s drawing increasing attention and controversy, Pro Publica reports. Cops often toss the flash-and-bang devices to disorient suspects during drug raids, but critics note that the grenades’ flash is more hot than lava.At least 50 Americans, including children and cops, have been killed, maimed, or injured by flashbangs that landed near them or went off too soon. Even Bill Nixon, an Arkansas man who used to make flashbangs for police (before an officer lost a hand demonstrating one to Boy Scouts) doesn’t get why cops use them regularly. “It boggles my mind,” he says.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Police in Little Rock, Ark., used them on 84% of raids from 2011 to 2013, although the raids usually just turned up minor drug paraphernalia. But a police rep defends flashbang use, saying that “what we see is a large service of warrants without gunfire.” Still, horror stories include a 19-month-old Georgia baby who suffered severe facial injuries during a drug raid when a flashbang landed in her crib, WOKV reports. A grand jury didn’t indict the officers involved but suggested two ideas that are going around: better police training (there are no national flashbang training standards) and fewer “no-knock” warrants that permit police raids. Meanwhile, Dukes—who suffered second-degree burns over her body—has filed a civil suit alleging excessive police force. “My skin is ugly, and I feel like I’m ugly,” she says. “When I talk about it, I just get angry.” “

 

Thanks to Newser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Police Deploying High-Tech “RANGE-R” Radar To See Into Your Home

New Police Radars Can ‘See’ Inside Homes

 

 

 

 

” At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

  Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person’s house without first obtaining a search warrant.

  The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving.

  Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny.

” The idea that the government can send signals through the wall of your house to figure out what’s inside is problematic,” said Christopher Soghoian, the American Civil Liberties Union’s principal technologist. “Technologies that allow the police to look inside of a home are among the intrusive tools that police have.”

  Agents’ use of the radars was largely unknown until December, when a federal appeals court in Denver said officers had used one before they entered a house to arrest a man wanted for violating his parole. The judges expressed alarm that agents had used the new technology without a search warrant, warning that “the government’s warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions.”

By then, however, the technology was hardly new. Federal contract records show the Marshals Service began buying the radars in 2012, and has so far spent at least $180,000 on them.

  Justice Department spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said officials are reviewing the court’s decision. He said the Marshals Service “routinely pursues and arrests violent offenders based on pre-established probable cause in arrest warrants” for serious crimes.

  The device the Marshals Service and others are using, known as the Range-R, looks like a sophisticated stud-finder. Its display shows whether it has detected movement on the other side of a wall and, if so, how far away it is — but it does not show a picture of what’s happening inside. The Range-R’s maker, L-3 Communications, estimates it has sold about 200 devices to 50 law enforcement agencies at a cost of about $6,000 each.”

 

 

 

Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Federal Appeals Court Affirms Right To Flip Cops The Bird

Federal Court Says It’s 100% Legal To Give Cops The Finger

 

 

 

 

” The 14-page opinion issued by the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that the “ancient gesture of insult is not the basis for a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity.”

  The ruling comes in response to a case where John Swartz and his wife Judy Mayton-Swartz were forced to bring suit against two police officers who arrested Swartz back in May of 2006. The arrest was made simply as a result of John Swartz flipping off the officer who was using a radar device at an intersection in St. Johnsville, New York.

  Swartz was charged with “disorderly conduct,” the common way that officers charge people when they have not committed any crime. “

 

Countercurrent News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Western Multiculturalism Is To Blame For Charlie Hebdo Attacks

How Multiculturalism Caused The Paris Terror Attacks

 Afterburner w/Bill Whittle

 

 

 

 

Published on Jan 15, 2015

” It wasn’t the Mohammed cover art that caused the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris; it was the multicultural treatment of Muslims in France. Another scorcher of an Afterburner from Bill Whittle on PJTV, share it on Facebook! http://goo.gl/qVMQgx “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Saturday Steyn

A Judenrein Europe

 

 

 

 

” Had they not died as part of the Charlie Hebdo killers’ final act, I wonder how much publicity the murders of Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, and François-Michel Saada at a kosher grocery store would have attracted. An Islamic fanatic killed another quartet of Jews at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last spring, and it was a big story for a couple of days, and then faded away. Over the last decade, the Continent seems to have developed a certain psychological ease with the routine murder of Jews. What remains of Jewish communal life in Europe now takes place behind reinforced doors and barbed wire, and the actual extinction of an entire identity group’s presence is discussed as calmly as the long-range weather. Forty-five per cent of British Jews say Jews have no future in Britain, and 58 per cent says Jews have no future in Europe.

  European leaders like M Hollande insist they’re able to protect the Jewish community – or at least hold the remorseless picking-off of their members to manageable levels. The leader of the continent’s biggest Jewish group is disinclined to take such assurances:

 

  In a letter sent to interior ministries around Europe and obtained by Newsweek, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director general of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) and the European Jewish Association (EJA) – the largest federation of Jewish organizations and communities in Europe – writes: “We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential protection of their communities, as well as receiving the necessary training to protect their members from potential terror attacks.”

 

  The Jews are always the canaries in the coal mine, so they won’t be the last in Europe to discover that, when it matters, the state isn’t there for you. There is a memorable moment in Michel Houellebecq’s new novel Soumission, released the day of the Charlie Hebdo slaughter, in which the protagonist’s Jewish girlfriend Myriam decides it’s time to get the hell out of France and flee to Israel. And François says bleakly, “There is no Israel for me.” “

 

 

   Lacking the balls to do it themselves , the countries of Europe are subcontracting their latest attempts at the “Final Solution” to their Muslim immigrant citizens . Oh those “enlightened” Europeans … you cannot publish an image of the “prophet” Mohammad , but you can kill Jews with impunity … That’s certainly “progressive” …

As usual , read it all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Newly Installed NY Republican Senate Majority Pays Lip Service To SAFE Act Reform

NY SAFE Act Reform On The Table

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Two years after the state adopted among the toughest gun-control measures in the nation, some Republican state lawmakers are seeking reforms to the controversial law.

  Republicans senators in recent days have introduced bills that would either repeal the so-called SAFE Act or modify it, such as allowing homeowners to have 10 bullets, instead of seven, in a handgun at home.

  Critics said the law was hastily passed in the middle of the night in January 2013 and needs to be revisited. For example, a federal judge has ruled the seven-bullet limit as unconstitutional, and police aren’t enforcing it. The law is also being fought in court.

  Gov. Andrew Cuomo championed the law in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in 2012, and he’s shown no interest in major changes. Some Democrats said they want to make the law stronger, while gun-rights advocates held numerous protests calling for its repeal.

  Republicans, who took a majority in the state Senate this month, said they would press for changes.

” I think the time is right for, if not outright repeal, then certainly modifications to the SAFE Act, and I’m hopeful we are going to see some movement on it in the new session,” said Sen. Phil Boyle, R-Suffolk County, who is sponsoring the “Defend Our Homes Act.”

  Since the law took effect in March 2013, there were 3,930 arrests as of mid-December under the various SAFE Act offenses, state records obtained by Gannett’s Albany Bureau showed.

  The overwhelmingly majority of the arrests — 3,230 — were in New York City, mainly in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Outside the city, the most were on Long Island and then Monroe County, where there were 69 arrests, records shows.

  There were 53 arrests under the SAFE Act in Erie County, 34 in Westchester County and 14 in Broome County.

  The most — 3,173 — were for criminal possession of a firearm, which was made a felony under the law. Of the total arrests, 2,409 were in 2014.”

 

 

 

    We won’t hold our breath over this one . In reality is changing the allowable pistol magazine capacity from 7 rounds to 10 any kind of significant reform ? We don’t think so especially since a Federal court has already ruled that provision of the law is unconstitutional .

   The only legitimate “reform” to the SAFE Act is outright repeal given that the law was another example of a Democratic majority pulling the wool over their constituents eyes with a rushed , dead of the night vote , shades of Obamacare …

Read the rest and decide for yourself …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy New Year: Leviathan State Added $100 Billion In Debt On December 31st Alone

US Debt Soars By $100 Billion On Last Day Of 2014, Hits Record $18.14 Trillion

 

 

 

 

 

” It seems like it was only yesterday when we reported that, in yet another sleight of hand for the US Treasury and Social Security Administration, US debt rose by $32 billion on the last day of November sending total US debt above $18 trillion for the first time ever.  As we further noted, it also meant “that total US debt has increased by 70% under Obama, from $10.625 trillion on January 21, 2009 to $18.005 trillion most recently.”

  Fast forward to today when we are happy to report that according to the US Treasury, America’s debt-funded spending spree, while supposedly slowing down if looking at the declining monthly budget deficit report, never actually has.”

 

Thanks to Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge

 

Interested viewers can keep track of the burgeoning national debt at our post of the real time National Debt Clock …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Swedes Tire Of Government’s “Open Door Policy” On Muslim Immigration … Mosques Are Burning

In Sweden, The Land Of The Open Door, Anti-Muslim Sentiment Finds A Foothold

 

 

” As Khalif Samantar knelt for afternoon prayers at the Eskilstuna Islamic Dawa Center on Christmas Day, he sensed a growing heat and a low, rushing sound coming from a nearby hallway. He focused his mind on the ritual, only to realize seconds later that someone was shouting, “The mosque is on fire!”

  Mr. Samantar sprang through an open window and rushed through the snow in his stocking feet for help. Though about 70 people were inside the mosque at the time, no one was injured.

  The fire, which gutted the Dawa center, was the worst of three suspected arson attacks on mosques in Sweden over the last 10 days. In the same period, two freighters bearing hundreds of asylum seekers were abandoned by their crews off the coast of Italy, adding to a surge of more than 200,000 migrants to Europe in 2014.”

   The NY Times offers their usual dhimmi view of Sweden’s growing “intolerance” of their “religion of peace” adherents … Considering that , thanks to their “open door policy” Sweden is now the rape capitol of Europe one wonders what took them so long to start fighting back .

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