(2019-02-21). What If They Started a War and No One Showed Up? globalresearch.ca The humiliation of United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Warsaw last week was a good thing. The ancient Greeks, exercising their demonstrated ability to synthesize defining characteristics, had a word for it: hubris. Hubris is when one develops …
(2019-02-21). Fixing Tech's Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom. thenation.com Fixing Tech's Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom…
(2019-02-21). Worrying About Huawei: Is China Winning the G5 Race? zcomm.org US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned European countries on Monday that using technology from Huawei could hurt their relationship with the United States…
(2019-02-21). Ex-Pinochet secret police agent Adriana Rivas' extradition case deferred. greenleft.org.au 
Former secret police agent under dictator General Augusto Pinochet Adriana Rivas will face court again on March 1 to see if she is extradited back to Chile, where she is facing charges relating to alleged torture and kidnapping offences. | While visiting Chile in 2007, Rivas was arrested for the aggravated kidnapping of seven victims in 1976. At the time she was the principal assistant to Manuel Contreras, the former head of Pinochet's National Intelligence Directorate (DINA). | All of the victims subsequently disappeared after undergoing vicious torture sessions. | However, shortly after being charged, Rivas bre…
(2019-02-21). Supreme Court Rules Against High Fines and Civil Asset Forfeiture. truthout.org In a major victory for civil liberties advocates, the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to limit the practice of civil asset forfeiture—a controversial practice where police seize property that belongs to people suspected of crimes, even if they are never convicted. On Wednesday, the court ruled the Eighth Amendment protects people from state and local authorities imposing onerous fines, fees and forfeitures to generate money. The case centered on an Indiana man named Tyson Timbs, whose Land Rover was seized when he was arrested for selling drugs. The vehicle was worth $42,000—more than four time…
(2019-02-21). Ending the Punishment of Poverty: Supreme Court Rules Against High Fines & Civil Asset Forfeiture. democracynow.org 
In a major victory for civil liberties advocates, the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to limit the practice of civil asset forfeiture—a controversial practice where police seize property that belongs to people suspected of crimes, even if they are never convicted. On Wednesday, the court ruled the Eighth Amendment protects people from state and local authorities imposing onerous fines, fees and forfeitures to generate money. The case centered on an Indiana man named Tyson Timbs, whose Land Rover was seized when he was arrested for selling drugs. The vehicle was worth $42,000—more than four times t…
(2019-02-21). 'ISIS is after me, so you're in danger too!' US drone operator posed as CIA agent to impress woman. rt.com 
A New York National Guardsman attempting to woo a woman by claiming his "dangerous" job as a CIA agent had placed them both in terrorists' crosshairs has been arrested for impersonating a public servant.
(2019-02-20). Pierre Omidyar's Funding of Pro-Regime-Change Networks and Partnerships with CIA Cutouts. mintpressnews.com 
To [Omidyar] it's … about … integrating things together to give technocrats, business executives and government officials a God's-eye view of the world — to manage and control society more efficiently." — Yasha Levine, author of "Surveillance Valley: The Military History of the Internet"
(2019-02-20). PATRICK LAWRENCE: Pompeo, Pence & the Alienation of Europe. consortiumnews.com If the objective was to further isolate the U.S., the two officials could not have done a better job last week, writes Patrick Lawrence. By Patrick Lawrence Special to Consortium News What a job Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary… Read more →
(2019-02-20). DARPA aims to develop next-generation of mind-controlled tech for US soldiers. rt.com 
The Pentagon has been recruiting teams to develop neural interfaces which will allow humans to control machines with their minds, in a combination of telekinesis and artificial intelligence.
(2019-02-20). A Supreme Court Milestone for Students' Free Speech Rights. aclu.org In 1969, a group of public school students protesting the Vietnam War made First Amendment history that stands strong to this day. | This month marks 50 years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling that cemented students' rights to free speech in public schools, Tinker v. Des Moines. We're inspired to see that students still take advantage of their First Amendment rights and speak out on political issues today. | We grew up in Iowa, where our father was a Methodist minister. Believing that faith s…
(2019-02-20). Saudis Facing Criminal Charges in the U.S. Keep Disappearing. Is the Kingdom Helping Them Escape? democracynow.org 
A growing number of Saudi students are vanishing while facing serious criminal charges in the U.S. Federal law enforcement officials are now launching an investigation into the suspicious disappearances to probe if the Saudi government was involved and how. We speak with Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, The Oregonian reporter who broke the story about the spate of Saudi student disappearances. He found that in at least four cases the Saudi government paid a defendant's bail and legal fees before he disappeared. In one case, police believe Saudi officials snuck a Saudi national out of the country on a private plane using a…
(2019-02-19). New hate map helps users explore landscape of hate. splcenter.org The Southern Poverty Law Center has introduced an updated, interactive hate map equipped with new features to help people better understand the hate groups operating in their state and across the country.
(2019-02-17). Can Turkey and Syria actually come to an agreement? uwidata.com 
Ankara, who is now shifting away from the USA and towards the regional powers, is expected to begin negotiations with Damascus. Of course right now a low level exterior politics is underway with Syria. At this situation, intelligence agencies cannot just say "We execute whatever our leader orders.". Many times leaders are off the grid, …
(2019-02-17). What Brett Kavanaugh's Dishonest Anti-Abortion Dissent Reveals About His Supreme Court Agenda. theintercept.com The most obvious thing about the Supreme Court's decision to stay a Louisiana law that would have shuttered two of the state's three remaining abortion clinics is that it was Chief Justice John Roberts who stopped that from happening. Roberts joined the court's four more liberal justices to deliver a 5-4 majority that maintains the status quo, for now, and keeps the clinics open. | What is perhaps less obvious, at least at first glance, is the level of intellectual dishonesty baked into a four-page dissent penned by the court's newest justi…
(2019-02-16). Unequal Justice: Kavanaugh's Vote on Abortion Access Bodes Ill for Roe. progressive.org It hasn't taken Kavanaugh long to show his true colors. The big reveal came on February 7, when he voted against a "stay" that will keep a draconian Louisiana abortion law from taking effect.
(2019-02-15). Watch Webcast of 17th Assange Vigil. consortiumnews.com The 17th vigil for Julian Assange, now a weekly event every Friday, was aired today on Consortium News. Watch the replay here. The Unity4J vigils will continue until Assange is free. The guests were Garland Nixon, James Cogan, Elizabeth Vos,… Read more →
(2019-02-15). Headlines for February 15, 2019. democracynow.org Trump to Use National Emergency Declaration to Build Border Wall, "It's Incredible": Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on Amazon Scrapping NYC Project After Grassroots Protests, Report: Amazon to Pay No Federal Taxes Despite Making $11 Billion in Reported Profits, Denver Teachers Declare Victory After 3-Day Strike, More U.S. Workers Went on Strike in 2018 Than in Any Year in Three Decades, Parkland Shooting Survivor Emma González: "We Fight Our Trauma by Fighting Against Gun Violence", William Barr Sworn In as Attorney General After Senate Confirmation, Former Deputy FBI Director Speaks Out on Launching Counterintelligence Prob…
(2019-02-15). The Supreme Court Will Decide if Census Citizenship Question Is Legal. Democrats Should Also Work to Block It. theintercept.com 
House Democrats should use their oversight power to expose the Trump administration's nefarious reasons for asking about citizenship on the 2020 census.
(2019-02-15). SPLC statement on Supreme Court's denial of Trump administration's request to immediately enforce asylum ban. splcenter.org The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Trump administration's request to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry.
(2019-02-12). What it Really Takes to Secure Peace in Afghanistan. progressive.org Constant military surveillance of Afghans yields almost no real intelligence about the problems they face each day. An unusual group of volunteers uses a far different approach.
(2019-02-08). Generals and Crooks. splcenter.org How Caravan Paranoia Tore the Border Militia Movement Apart…
(2019-01-16). Was that the Onion or Reuters Quoting Mike Pompeo on Venezuela? zcomm.org This Reuters article says "The Maduro regime is illegitimate and the United States will work diligently to restore a real democracy to that country," Pompeo told reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he is on a tour of Middle East countries. " [emphasis added] The Onion might have simply changed "countries" above to "dictatorships" or, Read more…
(2019-01-10). Farewell to bblum6. zcomm.org Bill Blum passed away early last month in Virginia. Many Z Net readers will know his canonical book, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII, or remember his regular newsletter Anti-Empire Report. My first contact with Bill came in 1995 when I wrote him about something he had written on the Cold War. Read more…
(2018-11-29). On Julian Assange and the Political Economy & future of Europe. zcomm.org Interview on the socio-economic transformations taking place within the core of the European Union and how much time is left until it disintegrates…
(2018-11-26). Crucifying Julian Assange. zcomm.org Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria, journalist and editor-in-chief, Consortium, discuss efforts to force #WikiLeaks publisher, #JulianAssange, out of the Ecuador Embassy in London and extradite him to the USA to stand trial.