USA Today

Arizona State Hikes Tuition Dramatically, Yet Pays the Clintons $500,000 to Make an Appearance

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Just last week, I published an article highlighting how UCLA tried to negotiate a reduced rate on a Hillary Clinton speech only to be rebuffed by her representatives in the post, How UCLA Tried to Negotiate a Lower Speaking Fee, but Hillary Clinton Refused and Demanded $300,000. Here’s an excerpt:

Before Hillary Clinton spoke at the University of California at Los Angeles in March, her representatives had a few specifications to negotiate with school officials.

And of course, there was the matter of Clinton’s $300,000 speaking fee. When officials asked for a price reduction on behalf of the public university, Clinton’s representatives didn’t budge, saying $300,000 was already the “special university rate”…

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What 4th Amendment? Police Across the U.S. Are Using Radars to See Inside People’s Homes

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Screen Shot 2015-01-20 at 11.49.17 AMThe intentional erosion of public privacy is no accident. It’s not merely a simplistically stupid overreaction to the dangerous world we live in either. It is a very deliberate and nefarious plan being intentionally implemented by the American oligarchy; i.e., the super rich and the super powerful. This is precisely why the establishment freaked out about the Edward Snowden revelations, and it is why every single minor event is immediately manipulated into an excuse to give the government and intelligence agencies more power.

While we already know a lot about the NSA’s unconstitutional and fascist policies when it comes to the web, the decimation of the 4th Amendment is also being eagerly practiced at a more local level by police departments across the country. USA Today published a very important article on this topic earlier today. Here are some excerpts:

WASHINGTON — 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.

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United States of Newspeak – Obama Calls Executive Orders “Presidential Memoranda” to Avoid Scrutiny and Issues Most in History

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Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 11.39.49 AMIf there’s one thing we have learned about Barack Obama, it’s that he is a master of deception and absolutely loves to lie to the public. He seems to enjoy conning the plebs to such a degree, I think he actually receives blasts of dopamine every time he does it. The bigger the lie, the better the rush.

The latest example relates to his issuance of executive orders, or lack thereof, something that Obama Inc. has actively attempted to portray as evidence of his restraint when it comes to executive power. Here are a few examples from a USA Today article published earlier today.

First, from the man himself:

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The Line to See “Girls” Creator Leah Dunham at SXSW Was 10 Times Longer than for Snowden

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Nothing against Leah Dunham, but the fact that the line to see her speak at SXSW was 10 times longer than the line to hear Edward Snowden (they spoke at the same time earlier today) reflects quite poorly on our society’s priorities. Not that there was ever any doubt. Earlier today, USA Today reported: Update … Read more

You Can Now Buy a Plane Ticket with Bitcoin

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Of all the Bitcoin adoption news that has emerged over the past couple of months, this is far and away the most exiting to me. Purchasing airfare is something that most people do at least once a year, and with the holidays coming up, something that is at the forefront of many people’s minds. The … Read more

The FBI Allowed Informants to Commit 5,658 Crimes in 2011 Alone

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Using a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, USA Today has obtained a copy of the FBI’s 2011 Report and has unearthed some very troubling facts. For starters, the FBI granted its informants permission to break the law 5,658 in one year, which amounts to a shocking 15 times a day. While I think we all understand that some of this activity is necessary in law enforcement, this seems to be a pretty lofty number for an agency supposedly so concerned with the rule of law.

More importantly, I think we might all feel a little bit better about the whole thing if the FBI actually nabbed a single person responsible for let’s say the destruction of the U.S. economy, war crimes, IRS targeting, Benghazi or spying and lying to Congress? Nope, no big bankers are in jail, nor any high-profile politicians or defense contractors. None of them. So the FBI is allowing folks to break the law at least 15 times a day to catch who exactly? Aaron Swartz?

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation’s top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.

The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.

Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.

USA TODAY obtained a copy of the FBI’s 2011 report under the Freedom of Information Act. The report does not spell out what types of crimes its agents authorized, or how serious they were. It also did not include any information about crimes the bureau’s sources were known to have committed without the government’s permission.

Now here is where it gets really scary…

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Number of Homeless Iraq, Afghan Vets Doubles

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Yep, taking care of our troops.  So sad, I can’t imagine the pain and heartbreak that these poor kids experience once they realize that the wars have nothing to do with defending freedom and they are simply being used by the corporate state and political oligarchs to defend the Petrodollar.

From the Army Times:

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government data.

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Army, Navy Suicides at Record High

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We are now averaging more than one suicide per day for active duty military.  This is a topic I have covered before, most recently in my post Anti-Suicide Nasal Spray Coming to Keep Troops From Killing Themselves.  This is an absolute national disgrace. From USA Today: With six weeks left in the year, the Army … Read more