The Strength of the Pack: The People, Politics and Espionage Intrigues that Shaped the DEA

Through interviews with former narcotics agents, politicians, and bureaucrats, this exposé documents previously unknown aspects of the history of federal drug law enforcement from the formation of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) up until the present day. Written in [...]

Big Brother to take a seat on MARTA buses

Wave to the camera. The Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority will soon have a new set of eyes to protect the safety of drivers and passengers.
MARTA provides public transportation service around Big Bear Valley and to Running Springs, Crestline, Lake Arrowhead and San Bernardino. The agency is in the process [...]

***** Attemp to Stage Anti-Immigrant Hate Event This Saturday in Big Bear Lake, Home of Big Bear Mountain & Snow Summit *****

Anti-amnesty rally being promoted for November 14 (Saturday) in Big Bear Lake. Come and show your support for our immigrant families, friends co-workers and neighbors.  This is your “four seasons resort,” as well as our home.
Though the organizers are not identified, they are requesting that anti-amnesty activists meet at the [...]

Threat of Non-Lethal Chemical Weapons

Dangerous Ambiguities:Regulation of Riot Control Agents and Incapacitants under the Chemical Weapons Convention
In this report, Michael Crowley discusses some of the threats posed by non-lethal riot control and incapacitants chemical agents.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) created regulations for all chemical weapons. Non-lethal chemical agents, such as riot control agents [...]

ACLU: Justice Denied: Voices from Guantanamo

Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants

Economic Progress Via Legalization: Lessons from the Last Legalization Program
Would legalizing currently undocumented immigrants in the United States place an unneeded amount of strain on the economy?
Not according to a recent report issued by the Immigration Policy Center. This report, titled “Economic Progress Via Legalization: Lessons from the Last Legalization [...]

Independent Report: ICE Enforcement Violates Workers’ Rights

Iced Out: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights
The AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work, and the National Employment Law Project have jointly published this document which continues the criticism of ICE workplace immigration raids in the United States.
“This report shows that in too many instances, Immigration and [...]

America Owned by Its Army

Paris, November 3, 2009 – It is possible that the creation of an all-professional American army was the most dangerous decision ever taken by Congress. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected [...]

Virginia drops plan for anonymous juries

The Supreme Court of Virginia has withdrawn a controversial proposal that would have automatically withheld the identities of jurors in all criminal cases, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Several open government organizations, including the Virginia Press Association and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, opposed the rule. The Reporters Committee [...]

More Maricopa County…

Source
This amazing video below was taken on October 19 in Arizona’s Maricopa County Superior Court.
As defense attorney Joanne Cuccia discusses her client’s sentencing hearing with the judge, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer Adam Stoddard walks up behind her, and begins sifting through one of her files, which [...]

Cop with history of spanking women against their will asking for leniency

Thomas Maroney was a Central Florida police sergeant when he was accused of stripping a woman against her will, fondling her genitals, bending her over his knee and spanking her repeatedly last year.
First he used his hand. Then he used his belt. When it was over, the 29-year-old woman said she [...]

What, Exactly, Is a ‘Cop-Killer’ Gun? (Updated)

News reports on the Fort Hood rampage say that the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, used an FN Herstal Five-SeveN pistol — described in some reports as a “cop killer” gun.
What, exactly, makes the Five-Seven different from other handguns?
The Five-Seven is chambered for the 5.7 x 28mm cartridge, ammunition [...]

Here’s That Leaked Copyright Treaty Document

The secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement document we wrote about on Wednesday appeared on Wikileaks today, and our source has cleared us to publish it here as well.
We wrote that the document, (.pdf) if true, amounted to policy laundering at its finest -– that the United States was pushing the [...]

Police Pursuits and the Drug War

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) speaker James E. Gierach to the Chicago Sun-Times:
Valerie Davis, the 42-year-old woman killed this week in a cops-chase-drug-suspect scenario, would be alive today if drugs were legalized, controlled and regulated. And the drug suspect, now [...]

POLICE BRUTALITY: Blind woman Tasered

Arizona cop who spoke out against botched grenade bust transferred

PHOENIX — A Phoenix Police Department officer who pointed a finger at a fellow cop for alleged misconduct had to leave his office Friday. CBS 5 News reported Wednesday that there was a “bust” that didn’t happen.
According to a memo sent by Sgt. Philip Roberts, a co-worker delayed arresting a [...]

Lejeune IDs NCO killed on base

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A Camp Lejeune Marine accused late last week of killing a noncommissioned officer is now in the base brig after spending several hours in a local hospital being treated for self-inflicted wounds, Marine officials said Monday.
Charges are pending against Pvt. Jonathan Law, 21, in the death Friday morning [...]

Marijuana: Colorado Ski Town Votes to Legalize It, Measure Passes With 73%

Residents of the Colorado ski town of Breckenridge overwhelmingly voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana Tuesday. The measure passed with 73% of the vote.
That means as of January 1, people in Breckenridge can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana under local ordinance. The measure also [...]

iePolitics: San Bernardino County to major U.S. Corporation (Google): Go away!

The news of this unbelievable episode was presented to me a couple weeks ago and I wasn’t able to gather more details until this weekend.
It looks like a major U.S. corporation recently embarked on a mission to San Bernardino County.
That mission? Establish a campus in the Victor Valley region of the [...]

Mexico ‘opens arms’ to immigrants

US Humanism Campaign Sparks Debate

The legendary Kalashnikov

Russia’s Izhmash Concern, the maker of the renowned Kalashnikov assault rifle, will unveil a new gun next year. The gun is said to replace the legendary AK-47 system designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov Pravda.Ru reports.
Vladimir Grodetsky, the general director of the enterprise, said at the round-table discussion devoted to [...]

***Great!*** – Prohibition in England

Government adviser fired for saying alcohol is more dangerous than drugs

Professor David Nutt, the government’s chief drug adviser, has been sacked a day after claiming that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol.
Nutt incurred the wrath of the government when he claimed in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, [...]

Fairchild instructor charged with rape

A former soldier who teaches at the US Air Force Survival School at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., is accused of taking a date into the school and raping her, choking her unconscious at one point.
Michael W. Fassbender, 32, of Spokane faces one count of first-degree rape in the alleged [...]

FBI Demands Tattoo Shops Rat On Customers

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in league with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (part of the Department of Justice), has launched a program that harks back to East Germany’s Stasi.
In Philadelphia, the FBI has instructed tattoo shops to rat out their customers if they demand privacy, insist on paying [...]

University of Akron to employees: Hand over your DNA!

In a new expansion of the total surveillance state, the University of Akron is now reserving the right to demand DNA samples from all new employees, CBS News reports:
But the University of Akron has taken this to a surprising new level.
The Ohio school now reserves the right to require any [...]

Closet Oinker Harrasses LEAP member

Song banned, band pulls out

Reporting from Mexico City – Los Tigres del Norte, Mexico’s superstar norteño band, abruptly canceled its participation Wednesday in a major awards show after it was barred from performing a song critical of the government’s campaign against drug cartels.
The band, best known for its corridos, or Spanish ballads, [...]

Prosecutors won’t charge LAPD officers in immigration march melee at MacArthur Park

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced today it would not file criminal charges against any LAPD officers for their actions during the 2007 May Day melee at MacArthur Park.
Prosecutors said in a statement that after a lengthy review, there was insufficient evidence to prove any officer violated the law [...]

Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray testifies for marijuana legalization

‘Shake-and-Bake’ Meth Harder to Detect

These days, you don’t need a stove for shake-and-bake.
Or to cook methamphetamine.
The drug itself hasn’t changed, but the process of making it has, according to Chief Deputy Jack Campbell of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.  Meth stoves, or “labs” — often converted coolers — are being traded for plastic bottles with [...]