An organization called The Alabama Justice Project obtained the documents and information from a group of police officers who are choosing to remain anonymous due to threats they have previously received from colleagues.

The documents, originally published on a website called The Henry Report, state that for years up to a dozen police officers on a narcotics team were found to have planted drugs and weapons on black male suspects. They also allege that the framing of suspects was conducted under the supervision of Steve Parrish, now the current Dothan Police Chief, and former Sergeant Andy Hughes, now the Director of Homeland Security for the State of Alabama.

On the free market it is legal and customary to violate the dignity of our fellow human beings

When I ask students attending my lectures at the Vienna University of Economics and Business what they understand human dignity to be, I frequently encounter a general, awkward silence. The students do not appear to have heard or learned anything about it in the course of their studies. This is all the more alarming considering the fact that dignity is the highest value: it is the first-named value in countless constitutions and it forms the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dignity signifies value: the same, unconditional, unalienable value of all human beings. Dignity requires no "achievement" other than existence. It is from the equal value of all human beings that our equality derives - in the sense that all human beings living in a democracy should have the same liberties, rights and opportunities. And only if everyone really does have the same liberties is the condition fulfilled for enabling everyone to be really free.

Immanuel Kant wrote that human dignity can only be preserved in daily life and interactions if we deem and treat each other as being of equal value: "So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means." [emphasis Kant's]

By contrast, on the free market it is legal and customary to instrumentalize our fellow human beings, violating their dignity because our goal is not to protect it. Our goal is to gain personal advantage, and in many cases this can be achieved more easily if we take advantage of others and violate their dignity. What is decisive is my attitude and my priority: am I interested in the greatest good and the preservation of the dignity of all, which is something which affects me automatically and which I benefit from as well, or am I primarily interested in my own welfare and my own advantage, which others might, but will not necessarily draw benefit from? If we pursue our own advantage as our supreme goal, the customary practice is to use others as means to achieve this goal and to take advantage of them accordingly. For this reason, Smith's perversion of goal and by-product leads to widespread violations of human dignity and the systematic restriction of the liberty of many.

Why the coming Great Recession is brought to you by the Healthcare Cartel is painfully simple: in an era of stagnant household incomes, every additional dollar devoted to rising healthcare insurance, outrageously unaffordable medications and soaring co-pays is one less dollar that's available to be saved, invested or spent on something other than healthcare.

Recent headlines tell the story: off-patent medications suddenly leap in price, healthcare premiums jump 25+% in a single year, co-pays increase and the deductibles on many insurance plans are so high that the coverage is more phantom than real: if you have to spend $5,000 before your insurance plan pays $1, what value is the coverage?

If the plan costs $5,000 a year, but doesn't pay a dime of expenses until you've spent $5,000, then the plan actually costs $10,000.

Macedonian police fired teargas Wednesday at hundreds of refugees who tried to enter the country through its land border with Greece and demanded they be allowed in to continue their journey towards wealthier European countries.

Most of the refugees attacked were from Pakistan, Iran and Morocco who, under new regulations by the non-European Union Balkan nations, are not among the nationalities to be allowed through. Macedonian border authorities are screening the refugees and only letting in those from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

For several weeks, more than 1,500 refugees have been stranded in the border region between Greece and Macedonia and living in tents. Greek Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas said his government was trying to persuade them to come to Athens and apply for asylum in Greece, saying there was accommodation available for them.

Catalonia's regional government again defied the government in Madrid and dismissed the Spanish Constitutional Court decision to block the secessionist movement, saying that their conviction to gain independence remains unchanged.

"The content of this declaration, approved by an absolute majority, is to remain unchanged no matter how many sentences the Spanish Constitutional Court issues," said Catalonian government spokeswoman Neus Munte.

Earlier in the day, Spain's Constitutional Court blocked the Catalan secession drive, increasing tensions between the regional government and Madrid, while adding to political uncertainty in the country ahead of the Dec. 20 general elections.

More Americans had their backgrounds checked purchasing guns on Black Friday than any day on record, according to data released by the FBI this week.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,345 requests on Nov. 27, one of the largest retail sales days in the country.

"This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014," wrote Stephen Fischer, the FBI's chief of multimedia productions. "The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012."

An active shooter situation is currently underway in the 1300 block of South Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino, California.

The shooting apparently took place at the Inland Regional Center, which is a facility that provides services for people who have developmental disabilities. The facility had just celebrated its Christmas party.

Police in San Bernardino, California are responding to reports of an active shooter in an office building. There are 20 victims, according to the fire department. The location is around the corner from a Planned Parenthood.

The San Bernardino Sheriff's Office is urging the public to avoid the area of Orange Show Road, South Waterman Avenue and Park Center Circle.

The San Bernardino Fire Department has confirmed the presence of an active shooter near Park Center. SWAT teams have been deployed to the scene.


Live feed from the location shows many injured people being helped by emergency services.

Along with San Bernardino police officers, the California Highway Patrol, FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are on the scene.

People are leaving the building where the suspected shooter or shooters are located.

Witnesses told police that the shooters were wearing ski masks, KABC reported.

A Portland student's simple gesture of goodwill is reminding the world that you don't need deep pockets to be able to help people in need.

As temperatures drop with each passing winter's day, Gabby Kaper decided to tape heavy jackets to lampposts in downtown Portland for any homeless people feeling the cold.

The sight of jackets attached to the street lights caused a mini mystery until good Samaritan Kaper stepped forward.

Botswana's government has recently sold the rights to the British Karoo Energy company to frack for shale gas in the Kgalagadi transfrontier park, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.

Botswana's government has recently sold the rights to the British Karoo Energy company to frack for shale gas in the Kgalagadi transfrontier park, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Kgalagadi park is among Africa's largest conservation areas.