Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

Oz to repeal 'hate speech laws'

James Allan
Quadrant.org.au
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:14 UTC
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© Unknown
It would be better to see this vile obstacle to free speech scrapped entirely, but Abbott & Co's proposed changes are almost good enough. Fact is, not even Justice Bromberg could have found against Andrew Bolt under the proposed revisions

The Abbott government's announced plans to repeal sections 18C and 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act, the so-called 'hate speech laws', are to be welcomed. Never make the perfect the enemy of the good. Sure, a repeal with no replacement would be better. But we're getting a repeal with a replacement that only covers those who 'intimidate', as in causing fear of physical harm, or 'vilify', as in inciting hatred against a person or group.

The first of those is fine. The second I don't much like, but it will be far, far better than what we have now. Better still, we have an explicit provision that jettisons the awful Justice Mordecai Bromberg reading of the existing law - that it is to be measured through the eyes of the self-perceived victim group. Now we have an explicit provision that the test of whether speech has intimidated or vilified is to be judged 'by the standards of an ordinary reasonable member of the Australian community, not by the standards of any particular group within the Australian community.'
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Eye 2

Big Brother is here: North Dakota to start first U.S. drone flights in May; New York to follow


RT
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 20:09 UTC
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© Courtesy Draganfly
Research drones will begin flying over North Dakota the week of May 5, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday. North Dakota is the first of six unmanned aerial systems (UAS) test sites to begin flight operations.

The first flights will take place over North Dakota State University's Carrington Research Center using a Draganflyer X4ES, the Associated Press reports. A second set of missions will fly over Sullys Hill National Game Preserve this summer. The mission will be run by the North Dakota Department of Commerce. None of the scheduled flights will be over private property.

The aim of these flights will be to show that UAS can check soil quality and the status of crops in precision agriculture research studies, according to an FAA press release. Precision agriculture is a farming management concept that involves fine-tuning the application of seed, fertilizer and pesticide on every square foot of a field to improve yields and reduce costs.
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USA

Feds who send arms against ranch families betray American values, reveal totalitarian regime in U.S.

Ben S. Carson
The Washington Times
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:59 UTC
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© Illustration on the Bundy case by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times
The Bundy case in Nevada provides many insights into the state of our nation with respect to the relationship between the people and the government.

The Bundys appear to be honorable American citizens without adequate legal counsel to help resolve a federal land issue about which they disagree with the Bureau of Land Management. Without question, they violated some of the innumerable laws and regulations that continue to entangle every aspect of American life.

Their violations could certainly have been handled through a multitude of less brutal means than those employed by our federal government, which through the mouthpiece of Sen. Harry Reid emphasizes how important it is for the government to enforce its laws.

It is quite interesting to see, though, that the same bureaucrats refuse to enforce some of our federal border-protection laws and other domestic policies with which they disagree. Perhaps Mr. Reid's time could be better spent explaining why it is acceptable for the federal government to pick and choose which laws it wishes to enforce.
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Dollar Gold

Highest sustained taxation in U.S. history proposed to Congress by Obama

Terence P. Jeffrey
CNS News
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:43 UTC
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© Unknown
In the budget proposal he presented to Congress last month, President Barack Obama called for what would be the highest level of sustained taxation ever imposed on the American people, according to the analysis published last week by the Congressional Budget Office.

Under Obama's proposal, taxes would rise from 17.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2014 to 19.2 percent in 2024. During the ten years from 2015 to 2024, federal taxation would average 18.7 percent GDP.

America has never been subjected to a ten-year stretch of taxation at that level.

In the twelve fiscal years preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1930 through 1941), federal taxation averaged 5.3 percent of GDP.
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Hardhat

Tactical advantage: Russian military shows off impressive new gear

Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
Sun, 20 Apr 2014 17:03 UTC
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© RIA Novosti via Associated PressRussian President Vladimir Putin (center) and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and the commander of the Western Military District, Anatoly Sidorov arrive to watch military exercises near St. Petersburg. Russia has shown off its new arsenal as it masses near Ukraine.
Elite Russian troops are displaying a new arsenal of body armor, individual weapons, armor-piercing ammunition and collar radios - a menu of essential gear that gives them a big tactical advantage against a lesser-equipped Ukrainian army.

If President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion, the new-generation body armor, in particular, would provide exceptional protection against small arms if Russian troops go street by street to capture Kiev and other cities.

"What we saw and what was dangled in front of the West was a clear indication that Putin is on a roll," retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales said. "It just seems to me from watching the films that their arrows are pointing up and ours are sadly pointing down."
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Camcorder

Noam Chomsky on the 'Fox Effect' in upcoming film 'Brainwashing of my Dad'

David Ferguson
The Raw Story
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:49 UTC
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© Raw Story
Writer and documentarian Jen Senko has released a trailer for the film "The Brainwashing of my Dad," in which she explores her father's political conversion from lifelong Democrat into angry, ultra-conservative talk radio listener.

Talking Points Memo reported that Senko raised funds for the project via Kickstarter.

The donor page explained, "As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father from a mild mannered life-long Democrat to an angry, Right-Wing fanatic, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself."
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Eye 1

Supreme Court split on whether police can search cellphones during arrests

David Savage
Los Angeles Times
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 15:56 UTC
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© Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press
Confronting a right-to-privacy question in the new world of smartphones, the Supreme Court justices sounded closely split Tuesday on whether police officers should be free to search through the phone of any person who is arrested.

Justice Elena Kagan, the newest and youngest member of the high court, urged her colleagues to insist on protecting privacy.

"People carry their entire lives on their cellphone," she said during the argument involving a San Diego case. If there are no limits, a police officer could stop a motorist for not having seat belt buckled and download a huge amount of information, looking for some evidence of wrongdoing, she warned.

Such a search could include "every single email, all their bank records, all their medical records," she said, as well as GPS data that would show everywhere they had traveled recently.

But Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. pressed the opposite view. Police who make an arrest have always been permitted to check a wallet, a billfold or a purse, and that might include personal photos.
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Megaphone

Pedophiles in high places: Former child model who accused X-Men director of sexual assault 'also drugged and raped by a businessman after Siegfried and Roy show'

Lydia Warren
The Daily Mail
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:38 UTC
egan lawsuit
Lawsuit: Michael Egan, pictured at a press conference last week, has filed a lawsuit against director Bryan Singer, accusing him of drugging and raping him in California and Hawaii in the late 1990s

The former child model who has accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually assaulting him as a teenager was also allegedly drugged and raped by a businessman after a Siegfried and Roy show.

Details of the abuse reportedly suffered by Michael Egan have emerged in an affidavit from 2003, which alleges the horrifying sexual abuse four teenage boys endured at the hands of two internet businessmen, Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley.

A source told TMZ that one of these victims, 'Minor #4', is Egan. It has previously been alleged that Rector, who was later convicted of child sex abuses, and Shackley introduced him to Singer.

Sources told TMZ that Egan never complained about Singer at the time of the affidavit, and Singer is not named in the records.

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V

Ridiculous! FBI may put alleged Anonymous member behind bars for 440 years


RT
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 17:39 UTC
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© AFP Photo/Raul Arboleda
A man accused of being a member of the amorphous hacktivist movement Anonymous now faces a total of 44 charges after federal investigators announced on Tuesday the filing of second superseding indictment against Fidel Salinas of Donna, Texas.

Salinas, 27, was first charged last October with one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act after a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas said he intentionally tried to hack into the computer system of Hidalgo County practically two years earlier. A superseding indictment was unsealed earlier this month on April 2 and introduced 15 additional counts against Salinas, but this week the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that even more charges have since been brought.

The FBI confirmed on Tuesday that Salinas now faces a total of 44 charges due to his supposed role in attempting to hack computer systems belonging to Hidalgo County, the La Joya Independent School District and The Monitor newspaper of McAllen, TX, as well as the computer of an unnamed female victim he is alleged to have cyber-stalked at least 18 times in December 2011.
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Vader

'Twelve is about as old as I can handle': Illinois state representative charged with trafficking in child pornography

Jessica Jerreat
Mail Online
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:35 UTC
Keith Farnham
Investigation: Illinois state representative Keith Farnham, pictured when he announced his resignation on March 19, is facing child porn charges

Illinois representative Keith Farnham has been charged with using state and personal computers to trade child pornography.

The 66-year-old allegedly boasted about molesting a six-year-old girl and used online chat rooms to discuss his fantasies.

When he resigned on March 19, one week after his Elgin office and home were raided, he claimed he was standing down because of health concerns.
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