The rich get rich and the poor stay poor

The U.S. has the fourth worst income inequality compared to other developed countries, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation.  Though some are better than others, all 50 states have higher inequality than most of the developed world. 24/7 Wall St. examined the 10 states with widest gap between the rich and poor.


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Big brother is watching

A federal judge estimates that his fellow federal judges issue a total of 30,000 secret electronic surveillance orders each year—and the number is probably growing. Though such orders have judicial oversight, few emerge from any sort of adversarial proceeding and many are never unsealed at all. Those innocent of any crime are unlikely to know they have ever been the target of an electronic search.


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US Government is data mining you

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Wiretapping Costs

The American Civil Liberties Union revealed that phone tracking was an extremely widespread phenomenon across US police forces. Now, another of their leaked documents reveals how much cell carriers charge for the services.


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Tracking the secret war on Iran

     Rumors about an imminent military attack on Iran over its nuclear program have come and gone for years. In recent weeks such talk has intensified, though it's still anybody's guess as to whether Israel or the United States might openly carry out military action any time soon. But most experts agree on one thing: A covert war with Iran has already been raging for years. Details are often murky, but the conflict has been punctuated with brazen assassinations, exploding missile sites, crippling cyberattacks, and a litany of arrests and spying allegations on all sides. Below is a timeline of major developments in the war—or at least the ones that are publicly known. 


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Weapons cache

Unemployment at an all time low thanks to Obama?

The US job market continues to strengthen with the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits now at a four-year low, the labor department said Thursday.


Of course it is, everyone is at their limit and is getting thrown off unemployment.


But it will look better for his campaign.   LINK

We're number 1!!!

     If the US auto industry has recently shown sparks of new life (though we're not making T-Birds or Mercuries or Oldsmobiles or Pontiacs or Saturns anymore), there is one form of manufacturing in which America is still dominant. When it comes to weaponry we're still young and proud and makin' Predators and Reapers (as in unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones) and Eagles and Fighting Falcons (as in F-15 and F-16 combat jets), and outfitting them with the deadliest of weapons. 
     In this market niche, we're still the envy of the world.


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Gobi desert

What are those strange white patterns in China's Gobi Desert? For weeks, experts have puzzled over the crazy lines that show up in satellite images.

What are the markings inside the Great Pyramid

A robot has taken photos of a hidden secret chamber inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was supposedly built by the fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. It's been the first time anyone accessed the secret chamber in 4500 years.

MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News toexplicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation... or else:

$356 Million Later, the Justice Department’s Wireless Network Still Sucks

So where exactly did all that money go??  Link

To Understand Tensions Between the US and Iran, Follow the Money

 Great story from Mother Jones about how to trace some of the things you see in the news.  Simply, follow the money

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GOP - 3 of 4 are masons. Look at the hands

ICE Mistakenly Deports Missing Teen To Colombia

from the these-people-get-to-censor-the-internet? dept

Wow. We've discussed, repeatedly, the ridiculous situation in which the US government via the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) arm of the Department of Homeland Security has been seizing domains and censoring websites, such as the case of Dajaz1.com. As we've noted in the past, the details of that operation showed an organization that didn't really understand what it was doing, and definitely seemed to believe in "shoot first, ask questions later."

As many people have pointed out, why is "Immigration and Customs Enforcement" doing anything involving the internet or copyrights/trademarks online? So perhaps you could "excuse" their vast mistakes as them being out of their depth.

But what about the part of their mandate that they're actually supposed to be experts in? You know, keeping people who don't belong here out? Yeah, it appears they approach that with about the same level of detail awareness as when they deal with censoring blogs. In 2010, 14-year-old Jakadrien Turner ran away from home, "distraught over the loss of her grandfather and her parents' divorce." Her grandmother searched for her with no luck... until now. It seems that at some point in 2010 Jakadrien was arrested for shoplifting. She gave police a fake name... and that name apparently was the same as an illegal immigrant who was wanted in Colombia. And, that was enough to get the girl deported to Colombia last April. She remains there, currently detained by the Colombian government.

Apparently ICE took the girl's fingerprints "but somehow didn't confirm her identity and deported her to Colombia, where the Colombian government gave her a work card and released her." They've since taken her back into custody, since it was discovered she wasn't who they thought she was. ICE now says that they're "fully and immediately investigating this matter in order to expeditiously determine the facts of this case." Perhaps -- and this is just a suggestion -- ICE should start "fully and immediately investigating" stuff before they go around creating new and bigger problems...