The Death of the Mind

The CIA, from its inception, carried out assassinations, coups, torture, and illegal spying and abuse, including of US citizens, many of which were exposed in 1975 by the Church Committee in the Senate and the Pike Committee in the House. Congress attempted to enact laws to curb the widespread criminal activity by the CIA. Senate and House intelligence oversight committees were created, and after the Iran-Contra scandal a statutory Inspector General at the CIA was appointed. But this oversight has largely collapsed following the attacks of 9/11 and the so-called war on terror. The activities of the CIA have once again reverted to the shadows. The CIA, at the same time, has transformed itself into a…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://popularresistance.org/the-chris-hedges-report-we-dont-need-the-cia/

On August 10, the U.S. District Court in North Carolina that put the Green Party candidates on the ballot last week refused to stay its own decision. See that ruling here. … Continue reading →

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/08/10/u-s-district-court-refuses-democratic-party-to-stay-its-own-decision-putting-the-green-party-on-the-ballot/

We have done many, many posts explaining how, unfortunately, it seems the idea of a person owning the things they’ve bought has become rather passe. While in the age of antiquity, which existed entire tens of years ago, you used to be able to own things, these days you merely license them under Ts and Cs that are either largely ignored and clicked through or that are indecipherable, written in the otherwise lost language known as “Lawyer-ese”. The end result is a public that buys things, thinks they retain ownership over them, only to find out that the provider of the things alters them, limits their use, or simply erases them from being.
Take anyone who bought…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/07/11/you-dont-own-what-youve-bought-sony-removes-100s-of-movies-bought-through-ps-store/

Bucking a trend set by two separate Appeals Courts (Ninth and Tenth), a federal court in Texas has said it is actually a violation of rights when cops destroy an innocent person’s home to effect an arrest. What’s more, a jury has backed up that decision with actual compensation. (h/t The Honest Courtesan)

Today, a federal jury ruled that Vicki Baker is entitled to $59,656.59 in damages after a SWAT team destroyed her McKinney, Texas, home while pursuing a fleeing fugitive in July 2020. The ruling is a victory for Vicki, who joined forces with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit in March 2021, after the city refused to pay for the damage that had been…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/07/07/jury-says-texas-city-must-pay-woman-60k-after-cops-destroyed-her-home-to-apprehend-a-suspect/

We’ve talked about the unfortunate bipartisan attacks on free speech, which are best understood as attempts to control the narrative. Republicans have been attacking free speech in multiple ways — from trying to ban books and take away teacher autonomy to trying to compel websites to host content against their will. Democrats, on the flip side, have focused on ridiculous attempts to force websites to monitor and control speech. Both of these are bad in their own ways and both are attacks on free speech. In both cases, they seem to be about trying to force others to view the world the same way they do, and that’s the whole reason that we have the 1st…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/07/05/how-the-dobbs-decision-will-lead-to-attacks-on-free-speech-or-why-democrats-need-to-stop-undermining-free-speech/

The Wikileaks founder met the deadline set to appeal the decision issued by the British Home Secretary, Priti Patel.
Assange met the deadline to appeal the decision issued by the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, while. At the same time, the court in London communicated that it had formally received the notification of the accused.
Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, referred to the dire consequences of the case for journalism and human rights in general. “We will fight until justice is done,” she said.
The Australian journalist has been detained in Belmarsh high-security prison since April 2019, where he awaits the outcome of the legal process.
The post Julian Assange Appeals His Extradition To The United States appeared first on…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://popularresistance.org/julian-assange-appeals-his-extradition-to-the-us/

The terrible, awful, no good, horrible plans to regulate the internet keep coming faster and furiouser these days. So, it’s worth remembering a time back when Congress passed one of the worst laws about the internet: the Communications Decency Act. Yes, these days we talk about the CDA more reverently, but that’s only because we’re talking about the one part of it that wasn’t declared unconstitutional: Section 230. Section 230, of course, was never even supposed to be a part of the CDA in the first place. It was crafted by then Representatives Chris Cox and Ron Wyden as an alternative approach to the ridiculousness that was coming out of Senator James Exon in the Senate.
But,…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/06/29/please-take-a-moment-to-celebrate-how-a-very-different-supreme-court-saved-the-internet-25-years-ago/

WASHINGTON—In a controversial 6-3 decision regarding religious freedom, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that public school teachers were allowed to lead students on Crusades to win back the Holy Land for Christians. “Because the First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion, all school employees have the…

Read more…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.theonion.com/supreme-court-ruling-allows-public-school-teachers-to-l-1849119443

This excellent Stateline article explains many reasons why petitioning has become more difficult in the last few years. Thanks to Eric Wong for the link.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/06/28/news-story-explains-why-petitioning-is-substantially-more-difficult-recently/