Citizens in Chicago are costing the city tens of millions by obeying the law, giving credence to the notion that crime really does pay, and is not only profitable but necessary for the state to survive.

Over the last year Rahm Emanuel and company have flooded the city with speed cameras in an attempt to create a windfall of revenue generation.

Original estimates of revenue to be collected were upwards of $100 million but good drivers set back this greedy political goal $50 million. This shortage is in spite of the city's best efforts to trick drivers into getting the tickets by placing the cameras in the proximity to schools and parks.

The tickets come with a $100 sticker price and the residents of Chicago got wise to this scam real quick.

Good behavior is bad for the budget.

Now the city will have to rob the citizens of Chicago in other ways to make up for their $50 million dollar budget shortfall.

This is a perfect example of how the system never sets out to prevent crime, they only wish to control it for profit.

"The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people." - Justice William O. Douglas

Justice in America makes less sense with each passing day.

A Michigan couple that has been raising chickens in their backyard as a source of healthy food for their family could get up to 90 days in jail for violating a local ban on backyard hens. A Kentucky prison guard who was charged with 25 counts of sexual abuse against female inmates, trafficking controlled substances, and 50 counts of official misconduct walks away with no jail time and seven years' probation.

A 53-year-old Virginia man is facing 20 years in jail for kidnapping, despite the fact that key evidence shows him to be innocent and his accuser a liar, yet the courts claim they're unable to do anything about it. Meanwhile, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear the case of Jones v. U.S., judges can now punish individuals for crimes of which they may never have been convicted or even charged.

With every ruling handed down, it becomes more apparent that we live in an age of hollow justice, with government courts, largely lacking in vision and scope, rendering narrow rulings focused on the letter of the law. This is true at all levels of the judiciary, but especially so in the highest court of the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, which is seemingly more concerned with establishing order and protecting government agents than with upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Given the turbulence of our age, with its police overreach, military training drills on American soil, domestic surveillance, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, wrongful convictions, and corporate corruption, the need for a guardian of the people's rights has never been greater.

Yet when presented with an opportunity to weigh in on these issues, what does our current Supreme Court usually do? It ducks. Prevaricates. Remains silent. Speaks to the narrowest possible concern. More often than not, it gives the government and its corporate sponsors the benefit of the doubt. Rarely do the concerns of the populace prevail.

In this way, preoccupied with their personal politics, cocooned in a priggish world of privilege, partial to those with power, money and influence, and narrowly focused on a shrinking docket (the court accepts on average 80 cases out of 8,000 each year), the justices of the current Supreme Court rarely venture beyond their rarefied comfort zones.

It is well-known among informed observers and virtually anyone that has even the smallest shred of discernment that mainstream media outlets are nothing more than the mouthpieces for their respective governments, banks, and corporations. These outlets act as a clear propaganda machine drumming up the beat for war by the presentation of clever narratives, subtle falsehoods, and outright lies.

Such deceit relies on the trust of a beguiled public who simply cannot fathom the idea that they are being lied to on such a mass scale. Indeed, the secrecy of the true agenda is what gives propaganda its power. So it is very rare that mainstream outlets, their "journalists," or other major figures openly state the agenda that is behind their reporting and gives purpose to their every word.

But this is exactly what Robert Caruso of the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Daily Beast, The Jerusalem Post, and other mainstream outlets did in a fit of rage yesterday evening.

Caruso is well known for his hardcore adherence to the absurd notion that Bashar al-Assad is committing atrocities against the Syrian people, that there is such a thing as "moderate rebels," and that the U.S. and its NATO allies should arm terrorists and engage in military operations inside Syria.

Two peacekeepers serving in the joint United Nations-African Union force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region were killed in an attack, and a third later died from his injuries, the U.N. secretary-general said Thursday.

Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack and said it has been "a bloody October for U.N. peacekeeping," with 14 peacekeepers killed this month in Darfur, Mali and the Central African Republic. This amounts to "nearly one per day," he told reporters.

The Ethiopian soldiers were guarding a water borehole in Korma, North Darfur, when they came under attack by a group of unidentified armed men, Ashraf Eissa, the spokesman for the joint mission in Darfur, said by telephone.

"This highlights the exceptionally challenging environments in which today's peacekeepers operate," Ban said.

In a statement, Abidoun Bashua, acting Joint Special Representative of the mission, said the attack was reported to the Sudanese foreign minister and called on Sudan's government to act swiftly to bring the attackers to justice. He said an attack on peacekeepers is a war crime.

Rebel groups have been fighting in the vast western region of Sudan for more than a decade, and the security situation has worsened this year. The U.N. says 61 peacekeepers have been killed in Darfur since the start of the mission in 2007.

The sickening transformation of these United States into an authoritarian police state with an incarceration rate that would make Joseph Stalin blush, has been a key theme of my writing since well before the launch of Liberty Blitzkrieg. One of the posts that shocked and disturbed readers most, was published a little over a year ago titled:American Police Make an Arrest Every 2 Seconds in 2012. In the event you never read it, I suggest taking a look before tackling the rest of this piece.

Fast forward to fall 2014, and the Wall Street Journal has a powerful article about how children in schools systems across the U.S. are being arrested or turned over to police custody for doing things that children have always done since the beginning of time. Things such as wearing too much perfume, sharing a classmates' chicken nuggets, throwing an eraser or chewing gum.

As a result of our insane societal obsession with authority and disproportionate punishment, the WSJ reports that "nearly one out of every three American adults are on file in the FBI's master criminal database."

USA! USA!

European Galician Assembly has become more active in Lvov. It is known for its advocacy of separatism. Activists of the organization held a conference, at which the City Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and former economic development Minister Pavel Sheremet were among the guests.

The Galician Assembly consists of local intellectuals who have never concealed their separatist views (they recently registered the Ukrainian Galician party). The head of organisation Vladimir Pavliv became famous as a "Galician autonomist" even before the war. In his view, a change in the format of the administrative-territorial status is not far off.

"I am interested in autonomy for Western Ukraine or Galicia, and what happens beyond Zbruch, I don't care about," - he confessed two years ago. "The integrity of Ukraine for me is less important than the well-being of Galicia ".

An Arizona jury will be sworn in on Tuesday to decide whether 34-year-old convicted murderer Jodi Arias will be executed for the 2008 slaying of Travis Alexander, court officials said.

After months of delays, a 12-member jury is set to be impaneled in Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix in the penalty phase retrial of the former California waitress.

Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder in May 2013 for killing Alexander, 30, in his Mesa, Arizona, home. Alexander was found slumped in his shower after being stabbed 27 times, having his throat slashed and being shot in the face.

Arias testified for 18 days, claiming she acted in self-defense, while prosecutors said she murdered Alexander in a jealous rage.

The jury found her guilty and quickly decided that she was eligible for the death penalty. But they deadlocked on what her punishment should be, prompting Judge Sherry Stephens to declare a mistrial.

A Japanese court has jailed a man for two years for making guns with a 3D printer in what is believed to be a first in a nation with strict gun controls.

Yoshitomo Imura, 28, was found guilty of making two guns at his home and publishing a video online detailing the process, said the Yokohama District Court.

"The criminal responsibility for this act is serious" as it could encourage others to replicate the act, said the presiding judge Koji Inaba.

Imura, a former employee of the Shonan Institute of Technology, used internet-based information to build the two functional guns, according to the ruling.

He then posted a video online detailing how he built them. Imura's lawyers argued that he did not know his acts were illegal, a notion that the court rejected.

It was determined in the course of the investigation into the Moscow plane crash that killed the CEO of French oil giant Total that the driver of the snowplow which likely caused the crash was drunk.

"It has been determined that the driver of the snowplow was under the influence of alcohol," head of Russia's Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told the reporters on Tuesday.

Markin added that "there is a possibility that a number of airport staff will be suspended from carrying out their duties pending criminal investigation."

The CEO of France's oil and gas giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, was reportedly among five people killed in a business jet crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow after the aircraft hit a snowplow on take-off.

Total's chairman and CEO was the only passenger in the Falcon 50 business jet besides three crewmembers, LifeNews cited a source as saying. Another source confirmed to TASS that de Margerie was the only passenger who checked in for the private flight to Paris, adding that the 3 crewmembers were also French citizens.

Total has so far not confirmed the reports of its CEO's death. "To date, I have no information that I could tell you. When and if it appears, you can get it from the press secretary or read the communiqué," a representative of the company told RIA Novosti.

CEO of France's Total dies in jet crash at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport - report http://t.co/AWNpuaAuCqpic.twitter.com/oA8aWLRCOZ
- RT (@RT_com) October 20, 2014

During take-off at around 0:10am Moscow time on Tuesday, the light aircraft, according to preliminary data, hit a snow-clearing machine with its landing gear. Due to the damage, the pilot reportedly decided to turn back and land.