If you think anything is going to change for the better after Republicans take control of the Senate, you might have come down with a severe case of stupidity. Just like the Democrats before them, the new crop will answer to the same Wall Street masters.
Most of America isn’t interested in next week’s elections. Wall Street is an exception.
Boynton Beach police officer has been arrested after he allegedly raped a 20-year-old woman at gunpoint while he was on duty, police said.
Officer Stephen J. Maiorino, an eight-year veteran of the department who was in an episode of the TV show “Cops” in 2010, turned himself in to the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday. He is now on unpaid administrative leave and “will be fired,” Police Chief Jeffrey Katz said.
– From the article: Boynton Beach officer accused of raping woman at gunpoint
Although I’ve spent a lot of time highlighting the incredibly insane and immoral actions of a militarized American police force for several years, this week has featured some particularly ghastly accounts.
It all started on Monday with the post: To Protect and Perve – California Cops Share Nude Photos Stolen from Citizens’ Cellphones.
While that post was bad enough, it was followed up just days later with something far, far worse in the piece: Video of the Day – Watch as 8 Police Officers Fire 46 Shots and Kill a Homeless Man in Broad Daylight. In that article, I warned:
The following post should serve as a serious red flag to all of you who currently mindlessly serve the state in some capacity. First off, here’s a little background on Ray MacGovern. His bio on Wikipedia starts off with:
Raymond McGovern (born August 25, 1939) is a retired CIA officer turned political activist. McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, and in the 1980s chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief. He received theIntelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, returning it in 2006 in protest at the CIA’s involvement in torture.
So here we have a decorated, lifetime government employee who served the U.S. power structure in a greater capacity than 99.9% of all those flag waving, “thank you for your service” phonies out there. Over time, Mr. McGovern recognized the evils of American empire and he became an activist. Ever since then, he has been harassed, abused and placed on watch-lists by the country he so diligently served.
Two headlines came across my screen today, which taken together pretty much sum up the effects of policy decisions made by Central Bankers and politicians since the financial crisis. The financial oligarchs got bailed out, and the rich got richer due to decisions made by “leaders” around the globe. As such, the entire planet has now been transformed into a neo-feudal tinderbox. Myself and countless others warned all the way back to 2008 that this is what would happen, and here you have it.
Let’s first examine the results from Oxfam’s report on the billionaire growth spurt. I hope all 1,645 of you have sent thank you notes to the patron saint of oligarchy: Ben Bernanke. From NBC:
Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That’s because, like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.
From the Nation article: Mitch McConnell’s Freighted Ties to a Shadowy Shipping Company
Well this is interesting. Particularly with the Senate Minority Leader (and major Republican establishment crony) fighting for his life in the Kentucky Senate race.
From the Nation:
Before the Ping May, a rusty cargo vessel, could disembark from the port of Santa Marta en route to the Netherlands in late August, Colombian inspectors boarded the boat and made a discovery. Hidden in the ship’s chain locker, amidst its load of coal bound for Europe, were approximately 40 kilograms, or about 90 pounds, of cocaine. A Colombian Coast Guard official told The Nation that there is an ongoing investigation.
Out of control police brutality (including outright murder), and the militarization of cops across America, while significant issues in their own right, take on an even more pressing degree of concern when viewed as a reflection of society as a whole. For years now, I have been trying to point out the connection between banker bailouts, corruption in Washington D.C., imperialistic foreign policy and police aggression. They are all different sides of the same coin. All of these things are merely symptoms of the core cancer, which is a sociopathic elite running the nation and not applying the rule of law to those who are in power; wherever that power happens to reside.
This article is a perfect followup to my piece from earlier in the week, To Protect and Perve – California Cops Share Nude Photos Stolen from Citizens’ Cellphones, in which I wrote:
Remember those weird kids who didn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance in school? They either sat down or just stood up silently. I sure do. Most likely for religious reasons, but I remember thinking to myself as a kid that it was wrong not to say the pledge aloud with the rest of us. As I got older in my teenage years, I even felt that those kids were not being respectful.
Some adults may even give them the old, “well, if you don’t like it then you can leave” routine that is mentioned every time a minority opts out of the majority’s way of doing things.
Homeschooling my children will really make this a non-issue; however, my nieces were reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance the other day while playing with my children. In fact, here in Texas the kids recite both the American and Texas Pledge of Allegiance before class.
After hearing them recite it, and of course remembering the 2,500 or so times I said it in my lifetime, I started to think about the purpose and real meaning of this pledge that millions of school-aged children recite every morning Monday through Friday.
Journalists should be dark, funny, mean people. It’s appropriate for their antagonistic, adversarial role.
– Matt Taibbi, in this New York Magazine article
Reporters on the ground aren’t necessarily ideological, Attkisson says, but the major network news decisions get made by a handful of New York execs who read the same papers and think the same thoughts.
Often they dream up stories beforehand and turn the reporters into “casting agents,” told “we need to find someone who will say . . .” that a given policy is good or bad. “We’re asked to create a reality that fits their New York image of what they believe,” she writes.
– From the excellent New York Post article: Ex-CBS reporter’s book reveals how liberal media protects Obama
Earlier this week, I published a piece titled, Former CBS Reporter Accuses Government of Secretly Planting Classified Docs on Her Computer, which I thought was incredible in its own right, yet the information in that post seems almost trite compared to the flood of information Attkisson has revealed to the New York Post’s Kyle Smith.
The following excerpts from the piece will confirm all of your worst suspicions about mainstream media:
The following video is extremely powerful. These brave and insightful Chicago activists pummel the traditional belief that simply electing black leaders, or Democrats in general, will do any good. Their angst is directed in many appropriate directions, from the banker bailouts to corrupt local politicians. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear any mention of a third party, because we … Read more
The Patriot Act continues to wreak its havoc on civil liberties. Section 213 was included in the Patriot Act over the protests of privacy advocates and granted law enforcement the power to conduct a search while delaying notice to the suspect of the search. Known as a “sneak and peek” warrant, law enforcement was adamant Section 213 was needed to protect against terrorism. But the latest government report detailing the numbers of “sneak and peek” warrants reveals that out of a total of over 11,000 sneak and peek requests, only 51 were used for terrorism. Yet again, terrorism concerns appear to be trampling our civil liberties.
– From the EFF’s excellent piece: Government Authority Intended for Terrorism is Used for Other Purposes
The last week or so has provided several examples of how Western governments aren’t using their increased spy powers for terrorism at all, but rather, are abusing them in almost every other manner imaginable. From tax collection and raiding manufacturers of female undergarments, to confiscating counterfeit goods.
While powerful, all of that is just anecdotal evidence. What we really need to see are some hard numbers to prove that the “war on terror” is a gigantic fraud simply used to strip citizens’ of their civil liberties. Well, thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), we now have such numbers.
Read it and weep serfs: