Monthly Archives: July 2013

The Bradley Manning verdict is still bad news for the press

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“The public needs to awaken to the threat to its own freedoms from the Obama crackdown on leaks and, by extension, journalism and free speech itself. We are, more and more, a society where unaccountable people can commit unspeakable acts with impunity. They are creating a surveillance state that makes not just dissent, but knowledge itself, more and more dangerous. What we know about this is entirely due to leakers and their outlets. Ignorance is only bliss for the unaccountable.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/30/the-bradley-manning-verdict-is-still-bad-news-for-the-press/

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Statement by Julian Assange on Verdict in Bradley Manning Court-Martial

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“Today Bradley Manning, a whistleblower, was convicted by a military court at Fort Meade of 19 offences for supplying the press with information, including five counts of ’espionage’. He now faces a maximum sentence of 136 years. The ’aiding the enemy’ charge has fallen away. It was only included, it seems, to make calling journalism ’espionage’ seem reasonable. It is not. Bradley Manning’s alleged disclosures have exposed war crimes, sparked revolutions, and induced democratic reform. He is the quintessential whistleblower. This is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous precedent.”

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Julian-Assange-on.html

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One-Man Stand Against Police Checkpoints: Joe Draego

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One-Man Stand Against Police Checkpoints: Joe Draego

“The phrase ‘Your papers, please’ has no place in a free republic.  Joe Draego of Charlottesville, Virginia is among the brave and principled people who have challenged the legitimacy of police checkpoints. In early July, Mr. Draego was stopped at a checkpoint set up near his home and refused to comply when a police officer demanded to see his ID. He joins us today to explain what happened next — and why he took the stand that he did.”

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DEA agrees to pay $4.1 milllion to student they locked in a cell for days

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“A San Diego, California college student was awarded $4.1 million in a settlement with the federal government on Tuesday, ending his lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for leaving him in a holding cell for five days with no food or water in April 2012. KNSD-TV reported that no criminal charges will be brought against the officers involved in the incident, which began when the victim, 24-year-old Daniel Chong, was taken to a DEA office following a raid by a task force made up of DEA, state and local officers on a ‘420’ party Chong attended.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/30/dea-agrees-to-pay-4-1-milllion-to-student-they-locked-in-a-cell-for-days/

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Reevaluating Drug Courts: No Mother Should Have to Go Through What I Did

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“July, 4 2013 was the first anniversary of my son’s death. My son was a vibrant, well-educated, working professional in New York City.  We know that he was in a crisis situation. We know that he could not present himself to the emergency room without breaking his probation. We know that the state’s 911 Good Samaritan Law wouldn’t have protected him because he was already involved with the criminal justice system. On the day he died, he didn’t go to the hospital for a relapse as we practiced time and time again; he did not call 911 as he had before. He passed away in his home in Manhattan, even though he lived one block from Lenox Hill Hospital.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-pawlowski/drug-courts-reform_b_3671505.html

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Massachusetts smokers try to get ahead of new cigarette tax

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“The state’s newest transportation bill will raise taxes on gas, services on computer software upgrades and cigarettes.  Gas will go up three cents a gallon.  And you’ll be paying a dollar more if you buy a pack of cigarettes and $10 more if you buy a carton.  State legislators estimate the new taxes will raise $800 million in the next five years.  The added revenue will be used for transportation projects and to help sustain public transit.”

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampshire/smokers-try-to-get-ahead-of-tax

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Overpicking threatens Greek herbs

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“Forestry officials on the Greek island of Crete have slapped a five-year ban on the collection of a variety of wild herbs snipped to near-extinction, the state-run ANA agency said. The forestry department of Hania, one of the island’s main towns, placed restrictions on picking sage, marjoram, oregano and sideritis, better known as Cretan mountain tea, in protected areas. Special permission is required for commercial collection, and an allowance of up to 500 grammes is made ‘for personal use’. And Cretan dittany, a therapeutic plant prized since antiquity that is exclusive to the island, is off the table altogether.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/30/overpicking-threatens-greek-herbs/

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Europe’s ‘recovery’ is a conjuring trick

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“Stock market indices in Portugal, France and Spain are up by about 30 per cent. That’s pretty impressive for economies running on empty but is completely outshone by Greece, where the main index is now 64 per cent higher than in June 2012. There’s a temptation to look at the direction of travel and conclude that, even for the eurozone’s weaklings, the point of maximum danger is history. This is what EU leaders and the European Central Bank would like us to believe. At the core of this ‘recovery’ is a bluff that has yet to be called. In August last year, the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, promised to do ‘whatever it takes’ to defend the euro.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/10207789/Europes-recovery-is-a-conjuring-trick.html

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IMF approves 1.7 bn euro loan payout to Greece

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“The International Monetary Fund released 1.72 billion euros ($2.29 billion) in aid for Greece on Monday after completing a review of the country’s performance under the international rescue program. The latest disbursement means that Greece has received a total of roughly 8.24 billion euros ($10.94 billion) from the IMF under the bailout coordinated with the European Union and the European Central Bank in March 2012. Greece was first bailed out for 110 billion euros in 2010 but when that failed, got a second rescue worth 130 billion euros plus a private sector debt write-off totaling more than 100 billion euros.”

http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/WorldEconomy/IMF-approves-1-7-bn-euro-loan-payout-to-Greece/Article1-1100475.aspx

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Paris tax hunt sends French to Switzerland

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“France has made highly publicized efforts in recent months to crack down on tax evaders including French nationals who inherit from wealthy Swiss residents. However, some say the move will simply persuade French to up sticks and take their wealth with them.  The change still needs to be ratified by both the Swiss and French parliaments and which is not set to take effect until 2015 at the earliest. But when it does it will dramatically increase the tax burden on French heirs of estates in Switzerland, which caps its inheritance tax at 7.0 percent, compared to 45 percent in neighbouring France.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130730/paris-tax-hunt-sends-french-to-switzerland

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