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A former Swiss banker-turned-whistleblower has accused the CIA of playing a key role the Panama Papers leak, which implicated numerous foreign leaders, companies, organizations and individuals in offshore tax evasion, among other offenses. Bradley Birkenfeld, a former American banker for Swiss firm UBS, told CNBC “the CIA I’m sure is behind this, in my opinion,” in an interview conducted Tuesday from Munich. Birkenfeld originally blew the whistle on American tax evaders using Swiss bank accounts to divert their funds away from the reach of U.S. authorities. He served two-and-a-half years for his involvement and was released from prison in 2012....

By Carey Wedler Vote6 3

Though presidential candidates are often (correctly) perceived as aggressive power-mongers pushing narratives favorable to their calculated personas, it turns out their campaigns’ strategies suffer from amateur shortcomings more often attributed to aspiring Instagram models than calculated megalomaniacs: fake social media accounts. Veteran Republican digital strategist, Patrick Ruffini, has accused Trump’s campaign of orchestrating a fake Twitter call to action — a claim that has not been without protest. Ruffini says Trump recently acquired a particularly active sect of Twitter champions; all 465 of them are enthusiastically pro-Trump and extremely concerned about a wave of robocalls launched by Ted Cruz’s campaign....

By Carey Wedler Vote8 5

Over 100 women and girls in the Central African Republic (CAR) have accused U.N. peacekeepers of sexual assault, and three girls claim they were forced by French troops to participate in bestiality. Though some reports are as of yet unconfirmed, the most recent allegations — the most widespread to date in an ongoing, unraveling saga of systemic assault and rape — are consistent with multiple previous reports of U.N. peacekeepers committing sexual abuse. The most recent allegations span from 2013 to 2015, though an additional rape of a teenage girl was reported as recently as Monday, March 28. The Associated...

By Carey Wedler Vote5 0

A new proposed law in New Jersey would make texting while walking an offense punishable by up to 15 days in jail or a $50 fine. New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt introduced the bill last week, arguing it was intended to keep people safe. “Distracted pedestrians, like distracted drivers, present a potential danger to themselves and drivers on the road,” she said. “As people’s behaviors change so must our policy.” She cited recent data showing increases in the number of pedestrians using cell phones who were injured by automobiles. best viagra pills women The Washington Post summarized some of these growing concerns:...

By Carey Wedler Vote4 9

In 1994, a former Nixon policy adviser admitted the War on Drugs was waged not to keep Americans safe, but to crush dissent. According to John Ehrlichman, who served time in prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, the Drug War was intended to disempower anti-war and black rights movements in the 1970s. medicina levitra 20 mg Author Dan Baum wrote in the April edition of Harper’s Magazine that in 1994, he spoke with now-deceased Ehrlichman, who frankly explained why President Nixon pushed prohibition: The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies:...

By Carey Wedler Vote29 5

On Monday, a new, controversial app described as “Yelp for people” made its debut. The free app for Apple and Android, called Peeple, allows users to rank individuals based on their interactions with them. Though Peeple’s creators added privacy provisions following harsh criticism amid the product’s announcement last year, they still face scrutiny over the potential invasiveness inherent to the app. According to Peeple’s website, the app is intended to be “a reference check for the people around us.” The app allows ranking in three categories: professional, personal, and romantic. “The Peeple app allows you to better choose who you...

By Carey Wedler Vote3 4

St. Louis, MO — An African-American third-grader in St. Louis, Missouri will be unable to continue attending his charter school due to a decades-old federal court decision intended to fight segregation. Edmund Lee, a high-performing student at Gateway Science Academy, will be forced to leave the school he has attended since kindergarten because he and his mother, La’Shieka White, are moving away from the district where the school is located. Though policy guidelines, pursuant to the court decision, allow students to stay if they move, a provision specifically states he cannot — because he is black. uso de sildenafil 50...

By Carey Wedler Vote11 5

In 2015, the iron fist of power clamped down on humanity, from warfare to terrorism (I repeat myself) to surveillance, police brutality, and corporate hegemony. The environment was repeatedly decimated, the health of citizens was constantly put at risk, and the justice system and media alike were perverted to serve the interests of the powers that be. However, while 2015 was discouraging for more reasons than most of us can count, many of the year’s most underreported stories evidence not only a widespread pattern that explicitly reveals the nature of power, but pushback from human beings worldwide on a path toward...

By Carey Wedler Vote16 4

A new poll has found a majority of Bernie Sanders supporters would support Hillary Clinton if he dropped out of the race. Amid increasingly demagogic rhetoric from the Republican field of candidates, as well as a dearth of Democratic nominees, it is unsurprising that left-leaning voters would opt for Clinton should Sanders halt his campaign. However, this potential support directly defies the very principles Sanders has earned passionate support for espousing. The poll, conducted by Monmouth University, surveyed 1,006 registered voters from December 10-13, drawing data from 374 Democratic voters and voters who lean toward the Democratic party. Though the...

By Carey Wedler Vote4 0

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By Carey Wedler Vote5 2

Honolulu, HI — This week, Native Hawaiians initiated an historical election that may grant them sovereignty from the United States and the state of Hawaii, itself, after well over a century of colonial rule. More than 95,000 indigenous people will elect delegates to a constitutional convention, scheduled for this winter, when they will work to create a government that serves and represents Native Hawaiians — the only group of indigenous people in the United States currently restricted from forming their own government. In the 19th century, European and American missionaries and traders began settling in Hawaii. They quickly formed a political...

By Carey Wedler Vote6 6

“How stupid are our leaders?” Donald Trump asked when he announced his campaign for the presidency. “How stupid are they?” His sentiment was received with raucous enthusiasm and he has since enjoyed fervent faith from supporters that he alone can save the country. A new analysis, however, found Trump may not be much brighter than the average politician — at least not in his speeches to the electorate. The Boston Globe recently used a common algorithm called the Flesch-Kincaid readability test to examine 19 speeches of presidential hopefuls announcing their campaigns. The test calculates a “grade-level” based on the complexity...

By Carey Wedler Vote9 9

San Francisco, California — A former employee of the Whistleblower Protection Program claims he was fired for blowing the whistle on misconduct within the agency. The accusations highlight the government’s past and present attitudes towards those who inform the public of corruption within the system. Darrell Whitman worked for five years as an investigator for “Region 9” of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which administers the Whistleblower Protection Program. Region 9 encompasses California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and Guam, a U.S. territory. Whitman says he attempted to expose “bureaucratic dysfunction” within the agency that led to a failure to...

By Carey Wedler Vote8 3

Darmstadt, Germany — On Friday, a drone-like device dropped flyers over a key NSA intelligence facility that advised employees to quit their jobs on ethical grounds. The effort is the most recent attempt by privacy advocates to chip away at the power of the surveillance state using direct action campaigns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v2z7KwThIg Peng!, a tactical media and activist group, used a remote-controlled plane to drop flyers over a U.S. military base in Germany that serves as the NSA’s European hub of signals intelligence known as the Dagger Complex. The flyers were designed by Intelexit, the specific campaign Peng! launched to encourage security agency employees...

By Carey Wedler Vote11 2

Washington D.C. — A Hillary Clinton staffer planted questions in a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, according to email records released this week. At the time of the interview in early 2011, Assange had already leaked sensitive, embarrassing information from the State Department. The unclassified staff email to Clinton, released amid her ongoing email scandal, demonstrates not only that the former Secretary of State and her staff were out to discredit Assange, but that the government manipulates media and wields heavy influence over it. In an email from January 28, 2011, Philip J. Crowley, then Assistant Secretary of...

By Carey Wedler Vote20 5

As the “selfie” has pushed its way to the forefront of popular culture — even earning recognition as an official word in the English language — it is still viewed with skepticism and is often considered dangerous for the societal egocentrism and superficiality it has come to represent. One study even found selfies are associated with higher rates of narcissism, psychopathy, and self-objectification. A new examination suggests they are dangerous in another regard: selfies are more lethal than cannabis. Mashable’s original death-by-selfie analysis actually compared the number of people who died while taking selfies in 2015 to the number of people killed by sharks...

By Carey Wedler Vote8 1

In lieu of Carly Fiorina’s recent anti-science rhetoric against cannabis in the second Republican presidential debate, we are encouraging our readers to “#PassTHIS” article directly to her (see instructions below). For those not subjected to the drug warrior propaganda on live TV, the clip in question is provided for your reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXkS3UqA864 As cannabis legalization becomes increasingly popular, a new study suggests not only that the plant is effective at soothing pain, but that it may actually help reduce America’s widespread addiction to painkillers. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that states with legal medical cannabis dispensaries saw admissions...

By Carey Wedler Vote7 0

The Pentagon has erupted in “revolt” amid claims from 50 intelligence analysts that senior defense officials manipulated intelligence reports to downplay the severity of the Islamic State’s increasing upper-hand in the Middle East. According to allegations made in an official complaint with the Department of Defense Inspector General, the officers in question doctored reports — among other things — in order to maintain the Pentagon and president’s narrative that the war against the Islamic State, as well as Al Qaeda in Syria, is succeeding. To the contrary, the dissenting analysts — now effectively whistleblowers — have repeatedly attempted to warn that the...

By Carey Wedler Vote6 0

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that a lawsuit challenging the NSA’s warrant-less, bulk collection of Americans’ data cannot move forward. Ironically, the reasoning behind the ruling is that the plaintiff cannot prove his information was specifically collected — even as the suit’s fundamental premise challenges the extraordinary secrecy under which the NSA has operated for years. The ruling constitutes the latest back-and-forth development in a variety of ongoing court battles on the subject. Public interest lawyer, founder of Freedom Watch, and Verizon customer Larry Klayman filed the lawsuit. Lower court judge, U.S. District...

By Carey Wedler Vote4 1

According to the United Nation’s first privacy chief, government surveillance has reached heights worse than imagined in George Orwell’s iconic book 1984. The situation is so dire, in fact, that while speaking to the Guardian this week, Privacy Chief Joseph Cannataci even called for a “Geneva Convention-style” law to protect internet security. The fact that he alluded to a law created to avenge Nazi war crimes in order to exemplify the severity of privacy violations, highlights how egregious the problem has become. Cannataci was appointed to the position in July amid concerns that the first-choice candidate would not be tough enough...

By Carey Wedler Vote7 0

Whistleblower Says CIA Behind Panama Papers Leak Apr 19, 2016

UN Peacekeepers Accused of Rape, Forced Bestiality in Latest Scandal Apr 5, 2016

NJ Lawmaker Wants to Throw You in Jail up to 15 Days for Texting While Walking Mar 30, 2016

buy levitra at walmart Nixon Advisor Admitted War on Drugs Invented to Crush Anti-War and Black Movements Mar 22, 2016

The Internet Is Freaking out Over the New “Yelp for People App” That Launched Today Mar 14, 2016

Thanks to Court Ruling, Student Literally Can’t Attend School Because He’s Black Mar 3, 2016

15 News Stories from 2015 You Should Have Heard About But Probably Didn’t Jan 6, 2016

Majority of Bernie Supporters Would Back Hillary As Nominee Dec 29, 2015

Saudi Arabia Attempting to Behead a Man for Writing Love Poems Dec 2, 2015

Hawaiian Natives Move One Step Closer to Declaring Sovereignty from U.S. Government Nov 17, 2015

If You Think Donald Trump Sounds Like a 4th Grader, It’s Because He Does Nov 3, 2015

Whistleblower Fired from Whistleblower Protection Program for…Blowing the Whistle Oct 20, 2015

Watch Activists Airdrop Flyers onto an NSA Base Urging Agents to Quit Their Jobs Oct 13, 2015

Newly Published Clinton Email Reveals How Government Manipulates Media Oct 6, 2015

Taking Selfies Officially More Dangerous than Using Cannabis Sep 28, 2015

#PassTHIS to Carly Fiorina Sep 23, 2015

50 Defense Dept. Whistleblowers Slam “Stalinist” Pentagon Officials For Lying About ISIS Sep 18, 2015

Ridiculous: Lawsuit Against Secret NSA Spying Loses Because the Evidence is Secret Sep 9, 2015

UN Privacy Chief Says Government Surveillance Already Worse Than Orwell’s 1984 Aug 27, 2015