In anthropologist Edward Hall’s 1976 book Beyond Culture, he describes a story of a wild dog that lived on the small, otherwise uninhabited island of Ruffle Bar, which is just off the coast of Brooklyn and Long Island. The dog, nicknamed “The King of Ruffle Bar,” seemed to be in good health and had sustained […]
Tag Archives: Justice System
Strip Searching Innocent Victims in the ‘Land of the Free’
Last July, Leila Tarantino, a citizen of Citrus County, Florida, was driving with her two children. According to a lawsuit she filed with the district court last week, Tarantino says she made a full stop at a stop sign, but was pulled over by police anyway. She was held in the back of a police […]
The Truth is There Is No President Obama
During the summer of 2008, before the financial crisis forced a light on Wall Street’s corruption (and influence), I was promised by no fewer than three news commentators that by the November election, they would investigate and expose exactly who Barack Obama was. By that, they meant his ideology, his priorities, his views on geo-political […]
Justice In America is a Farce
Finally, our long national nightmare is over. The government brought charges, submitted its case to the people, and the people decided. Baseball player Roger Clemens has been acquitted of perjury for allegedly lying to congress when asked about using performance enhancing drugs. Of course, no amount of press fanfare should be spared for such a […]
They Tell Us “See Something, Say Something.” Well, I See Something
The Department of Homeland Security regularly warns us to be aware of our surroundings and to watch for suspicious activity. They also warn us to watch for actions that may look harmless, but might also be a symptom of a more serious threat. Some of us wonder if being so suspicious of our fellow citizens […]
Posted in Opinion
Also tagged Imperial Presidency, Law Enforcement, NDAA, Privatization, Regulation, Whistleblowers
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Slouching Towards Nuremberg? By Morris Berman
This is a repost from the blog of author and social critic Morris Berman, originally published in May of 2012. Here he talks about the creeping totalitarian state that is slowly acclimating us to having few if any rights. Considering our recent post on the pervasiveness of police strip searches, it seemed worthy of a repost here. […]
What Experts Say About the JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act was passed last Thursday to no great fanfair, but we wonder if it may yet go down in history alongside Gramm-Leach-Bliley as a law which helped set the stage for ‘pump and dump‘ bubble schemes and financial fraud. To put it another way, its a bad law, one […]
Posted in News
Also tagged Banks, Financial Crisis, Law Enforcement, Regulation, Unemployment
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Judge Stands Up For the People and Everyone Complains
Judge Jed Rakoff is probably one of the few honest judges we have left. He recently refused to accept an SEC settlement with Citigroup in which they sold mortgages and then bet against them, saying that the $95 million they were asked to pay was “pocket change” and required no admission of guilt. “If the […]
ACLU: Proposed Law Will Allow Military to Detain American Citizens Indefinitely Without Trial
Are we about to take another major step toward tyranny? According to the ACLU, on Monday or Tuesday, the Senate will vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which includes a provision which they say will allow the US Military to permanently detain American citizens indefinitely and without trial, akin to the Japanese internment camps […]