In a series of prosecutions, precedents are being established for the criminalization of political dissent in America.

Last week, Massachusetts high school student Cameron D’Ambrosio was arrested and charged under “terrorism” laws merely for posting lyrics on Facebook that make reference to the Boston Marathon bombings. He faces 20 years in prison. A string of similar “terror” prosecutions around the country take aim at the First Amendment protection of free speech and political expression.

The authorities have already branded select participants in Occupy Wall Street and anti-NATO protests as “terrorists.” Last year, heavily-armed “domestic terrorism” commandos raided Occupy Wall Street protesters’ homes in Washington and Oregon, using battering rams and stun grenades. The commandos were authorized to seize all “anti-government or anarchist literature or material.”

As with freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, also guaranteed under the First Amendment, has not been officially repealed. The reality, however, is that political assembly is already a semi-criminal activity in America. Political protests are routinely met with vastly disproportionate police mobilizations, confinement to oxymoronic “free speech zones,” “kettling” (in which protesters are surrounded and forcibly moved in one direction or prevented from leaving an area), beatings, tear gas, pepper spray, stun grenades or rubber bullets. The standard government response to a political protest is a massive show of force, complete with police snipers on rooftops.

The drive towards the establishment of an American police state, initiated under the Bush administration, has shifted into high gear under Obama. For nearly twelve years, the phony “war on terror” has been used as the overarching pretext for illegal imperialist war abroad and a methodical assault on democratic rights at home. The basic structure of authoritarian rule is now emerging into plain view.

Over the recent period, the government has vastly expanded its warrantless surveillance of the population. The Obama administration has constructed a massive data center in Utah big enough to store the contents of every personal computer in the country. Already at a government agent’s fingertips–without a warrant–are all of a person’s Internet browsing activity, telephone conversations, text messages, credit card transactions, mobile phone GPS location data, travel itineraries, Skype and Facebook data, medical records, criminal records, financial records and surveillance camera footage.

Tens of thousands of drones are slated to be launched over the US mainland in the coming years, with thousands already buzzing overhead. These high-tech aircraft are able to monitor meetings and demonstrations, access wireless networks and record the movements of citizens. Obama’s recent appointee for the position of CIA director, John Brennan, expressly refused at his confirmation hearings to rule out the possibility that these drones could be armed and used for carrying out assassinations within the US.

While schools are being shuttered and teachers fired supposedly for lack of money, local police departments are awash in billions of dollars of military hardware and training provided by the Department of Homeland Security. When local police are mobilized to respond to a political protest, they now do so in coordination with the federal military and intelligence agencies. It is not a rarity for armored vehicles, body armor and military equipment to be deployed.

Under the precedent set by the recent events in Boston, the authorities now have the power to subject an entire city to a military siege, with the population ordered to “shelter in place,” while businesses and transportation are shut down and heavily armed SWAT teams are deployed to conduct warrantless house-to-house searches without regard for basic rights.

The Obama administration, in concert with state and local police departments, has sent untold numbers of “anti-terror” undercover spies into domestic political parties and protest groups. In addition to gathering information, the job of these spies is to divert, disrupt and prevent the emergence of organized social opposition.

A person can be designated a “terrorist” on the secret, unreviewable say-so of the president, without notice and without a trial. Under the “material support” for terrorism laws signed into law as part of the PATRIOT Act of 2001, a person may be jailed simply for offering vaguely-defined “material support” to any person or group labeled as “terrorist.”

Under the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2011 and 2012, as tested in the case of Jose Padilla, the US government asserts the power to subject a designated “terrorist” to arbitrary arrest and detention without trial. In the cases of Padilla and Bradley Manning, and at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and countless CIA “black sites” around the world, the US government subjects alleged terrorists to torture. Finally, in the cases of Anwar Al-Awlaki, Samir Khan and Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki, the US government tested out its asserted power to murder “terrorists” outright, even if they are US citizens.

Under these precedents, it would not be necessary to officially suspend the Constitution in order for the US government to meet future domestic opposition with military lockdowns, curfews, house-to-house searches, mass arrests, torture and even assassination. With political dissent labeled as “terrorism” or “material support for terrorism,” Congress, the president, the courts, the military, and the so-called “free press” could continue in their present roles.

In the second half of the 20th century, US-backed dictatorships in Argentina and Chile used the supposed struggle against “terrorism” as a political cover for the arrest and murder of tens of thousands of political opponents, youth, workers, intellectuals and other “enemies of the state.” As the World Socialist Web Site warned from the outset, such is the inevitable logic of the American “war on terror.”

Two essential factors are driving the trampling of democratic rights and the shift towards authoritarian rule. The first is the massive growth of social inequality, which in turn is driven by the historic crisis of the world capitalist system. While it robs the population in order to pile up ever greater and more obscene levels of private wealth, the financial aristocracy is terrified of the emergence of social opposition. Not from a position of strength, but out of extreme fear and vulnerability, the billionaires look to police state repression as a means to preserve their status, power and wealth.

Second, just as democracy is incompatible with such levels of social inequality, it is incompatible with imperialist war. The US military and intelligence agencies have for twelve years been wading in blood in a drive to plunder the world’s strategic resources. The dead, wounded and displaced number in the millions.

A professional military, divorced from and hostile to the population and resentful of civilian control, has immensely expanded its size, resources and political power, to the point where it and its intelligence counterpart, in league with Wall Street, dominate the workings of the state.

By: Tom Carter

There is a growing groundswell within American Republican and Tea Party ranks that impeachment proceedings should be initiated against President Obama on a whole list of violations of the Constitution and the War Powers Act. ~ Peter Paton

Congressmen Allen West of Florida (R-Florida) and Darrell Issa (R- California) have consistently and loudly criticized the president for overstepping the political mark and bypassing Congress’s approval on a whole range of dubious policies and issues: and the recent Obama attack on the Supreme Court of Justice and the Russian ” Open Mic ” gaffe on National Security, leads to one question…

Is Barack Obama making his own case for impeachment? Obama did not become the Democratic nominee for President without the help of several leaders of the Democratic Party who knew that he was not eligible for office

Listed below are the One Hundred Articles of Impeachment.

1. Appointment of a “shadow government” of some 35+ individuals termed “czars” who are not confirmed by the Senate and respond only to the president, yet have overarching regulatory powers – a clear violation of the separation of powers concept. Obama bypassed the Senate with many of his appointments of over 35 “czars.”

2. No congressional support for Libyan action (violation of the War Powers Act ). Obama lied to the American people when he said that there were no US troops on the ground in Libya and then later said they were only “logistical troops.” Obama violated the War Powers Act of 1973 by conducting a war against Libya without Congressional authorization.

3. Betraying of allies ( Israel and Great Britain. Obama has placed the security of our most trusted ally in the Middle East, Israel, in danger while increasing funding to the Palestinian Authority (Fatah, just another Islamic terrorist group) whilst they have enjoined a reconciliation pact with long-standing terrorist group Hamas and the disclosure of British nuclear secrets to the Russians in the Start Treaty. Obama gave missile codes to British Trident missiles to Russia.

4. Backdoor implementation of the DREAM Act which would grant 22 million illegals amnesty. Obama passed the Dream Act through an executive order, bypassing Congress again. DREAM is: Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors

5. Telegraphing troop reductions to enemies – against the consult of his experienced field commanders – while embracing negotiations with our enemy, the Taliban, and recognizing another, the Muslim Brotherhood.

6. Betrayal of Arizona. Obama brought a federal lawsuit against a sovereign state, Arizona, seeking to protect its citizens from this threat of mass illegal immigration

7. Obama’s Failure to enforce U.S. law, the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s stripped America of its moral base by his support for homosexuality and the attack on marriage between a man and a women Obama allows the DOJ to refuse to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act.

8. Support of an inept and incompetent attorney general who has failed to prosecute voter intimidation cases (New Black Panther Party), initiated a dangerous gun-smuggling program (Operation Fast and Furious) – which resulted in deaths to one of our own law enforcement agents.

Obama allowed Operation Fast and Furious to occur, which allowed hundreds of Mexican nationals and Border Agent Brian Terry to be murdered with illegal arms given out by the ATF and DOJ.

9. Increasing the regulatory burden on American business through bypassing the legislative process with his executive branch agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

10. Failure to take the steps necessary to secure our borders and stem the flow of illegal immigration, termed as “repel invasions” in our United States Constitution in Article 1, Section 8 and Article 4, Section 4.

Obama has failed to defend US soil in Arizona as Mexican troops bring illegals and drugs into the USA, crossing the border doing so. This is a direct violation of Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution.

11. Inappropriately commanding the release of strategic oil reserves and providing Brazil $2 billion for its offshore oil exploration.

12. Illegally soliciting funds from within the White House ($5 dinner video fundraiser). The unalienable rights endowed to us by the Creator; life, liberty, and the pursuit (not guarantee) of happiness – are being threatened by the Obama administration.

This current government has abridged the consent of the governed and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends. It is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

13. Taking on the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review with a preemptive striking against justices who might contemplate an unfavorable ruling on ObamaCare.

14. ”Open Mic ” gaffe in which he explained Russian President Dimitri Medvedev that he’d have more “flexibility” to sacrifice American security after his re-election

15. Occidental College Transcripts Reveals Obama Claimed Foreign Citizenship to Get Scholarship? http://tinyurl.com/czldzx8

16. Obama’s secret back channel Nuclear deal with Iran, a sworn enemy of America and our Allies

17. Obama’s offer of a seat at the table for our avowed enemy the Taliban

18. Barack Hussein Obama’s Ineligibility to be POTUS because he was born in Kenya

19. Obama and his Administration leaking previously classified information about our intelligence communities’ efforts to slow down Iran’s march to nuclear weaponry.

20. Obama destabilized Western Ally Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and allowed the Militant and Anti West Muslim Brotherhood to take over the Egyptian Regime, posing a mortal threat to our Ally Israel and our own Western assets and interests in the region. Obama instigated a revolution in Egypt against an ally in the War on Terror.

21. Obama has appointed Muslim Brotherhood advisers, enemies of the State, to the White House. Aid and comfort to the Muslim Brotherhood is TREASON per Article 3 Sec III of the US Constitution.. http://tinyurl.com/3x88l2s

22. Obama bypassing Congress again by Executive Decree to allow Illegal Immigrants to remain and vote in America for partisan electoral purposes and reasons.

23. Obama selling citizenship to criminals in direct opposition to Federal Law.

24. Obama admin assisted Egypt in remilitarizing the Sinai, “something forbidden by the Camp David Accords” http://is.gd/nDwdbl

25. Obama has attempted to compel religious institutions to pay for abortion services — a clear violation of First Amendment rights

26. Obama apologizing on 9/11 day to our sworn Islamist enemies, the Salafists, the same day these terrorists massacred the American Ambassador and three other American officials in the Benghazi Embassy, Libya. and ramsacked and looted the Cairo Embassy in Egypt.

27. Obama spending billions in aid on America´s enemies, while disregarding the needs of the US.

28. Obama is directly responsible for the many wars and murders of Christians in the Middle East

29. Obama has financially ruined this country, and his actions are leading to the demise of the dollar. President Obama is either an idiot or he is purposely trying to destroy the American economy.

30. Obama is hollowing out our military, and destroying our intelligence gathering capability.

31. Obama, aka Barry Soetoro deliberately concealed his true illegal background to be POTUS, TRUTH out: why #Obama records sealed FOREIGN student ID http://twitpic.com/aufduf Can we trust Pres. who games system – lies

32. Criminal cover up by the White House over BengaziGate, where four Americans, including Ambassador Stevens were murdered by Islamic Extremists.

33. #CANDYGATE Collusion with CNN Moderator Candy Crowley at the 2nd Debate to cover up BengaziGate The Candy-Obama Controversy : Get the Transcript’ http://amsp.ec/1P1Dyy

34. Obama’s Illegal Foreign Campaign money.

35. Obama Administration defining the Fort Hood Terrorist Act as a Workplace Accident, which gave succour and comfort to our enemies.

36. The Border-gate arms deal offense that resulted in the death of a border patrol agent as well as numerous innocent Mexican civilians.

37. Suspected organized and widespread election fraud engineered by Agents of the Obama Regime at the November 6th Presidential Election.

38. Obama and unrepentant terrorist William Ayers misappropriated over 300 million dollars in donations meant for the education of Chicago’s minority students. They routed the money to Obama’s community activist buddies who then tried to turn the students in radicals. The program was a total failure.

39. Obama, as an Illinois State Senator, redirected tens of millions in Illinois tax dollars to Valerie Jarrett and Tony Rezko, to provide housing for low income families. They returned the favor with political donations. The housing units were built with cheap materials and labor and are uninhabitable after a mere 10 years of use.

40. Obama accepted millions in illegal campaign contributions from foreign credit cards after the credit card filters used to screen out foreign money, was switched off. This also allowed domestic donors, who were over the legal limit, to contribute more.

41. Obama attempted to move control of the Census Bureau from the Commerce Department to the White House, to be managed by then Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel.

42. Obama had provided under the radar amnesty to illegal immigrants by allowing ICE Director John Morton to prohibit ICE officers from enforcing US immigration laws.

43. Obama allowed USAG Holder to ignore the violation of US immigration laws in the sanctuary cities, i.e.,San Francisco, etc.

44. Obama illegally fired the IG Walpin for investigating Obama’s buddy, Mayor Kevin Johnson (Sacramento), for fraud (850K) with AmeriCorps.

45. Obama is in contempt of Federal court for his illegal oil drilling moratorium in the Gulf…

46. Obama spent a month as the UN Security Council Chair in 2009, which raises the question of his conflict of interest between the US and the UN. This is also likely a violation of his Oath of Office as the UN conflicts with our Constitution on many levels, i.e., LOST, UN Small Arms ban, etc.

47. Obama signed an EO in December 2009 that allows Interpol to operate in the US without oversight by Congress, courts, FBI, or local law enforcement.

48. Obama and SecState Clinton misappropriated, er, used $23 million in US taxpayer funds to help Obama’s homeland of Kenya move to a communist nation where the freedom of speech, private property rights, and other rights are subservient to “social justice”.

This includes the fact that the Kenyan constitution adopted Sharia Law, which violates the basic human rights of women.

49. Obama was likely involved with then Governor Rod Blagojevich to try and sell his Illinois Senate seat, i.e., pay to play. Jesse Jackson Jr is under investigation for it and it appears that Valerie Jarrett might also have been involved.

50. Obama ran a website that asked Americans to report on other Americans, in the area of ObamaKare, using whitehouse.gov and taxpayer money to do so. He repeated this with AttackWatch.

51. Obama got onto the Indiana ballot through voter fraud in 2008.

52. Obama sealed all of his records that would show that he is possibly an illegal president, that he is feloniously using a false SSN, that his draft registration number is false, that his Fulbright award was falsely awarded as Obama claimed foreign student status, and that his student aid was falsely obtained.

53. Obama violated the Constitution by firing the GM CEO.

54. Obama violated bankruptcy laws by forcing GM bondholders to accept millions of dollars in losses of money that they were legally entitled to.

55. Obama violated bankruptcy laws by awarding the UAW with a share of GM and Chrysler during their bankruptcy proceedings.

56. Obama bought votes for ObamaKare with acts like, “Cornhusker Kickback”, “Louisiana Purchase” and the DoI increasing water allocations toCalifornia’sCentral Valley. This brought in the votes of Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa, both Democrat holdouts.

57. Obama lied about Americans being able to keep their healthcare coverage if they wanted to. ObamaKare is already forcing them out of their current coverage.

58. Obama attempted to bribe Joe Sestak with a job offer in order to get him to drop out of the Senate race against Arlen Specter.

59. Obama bypassed Congress and told the EPA to set carbon emission standards.

60. Obama forced BP to pony up a $20 billion slush fund to compensate Gulf Coast businesses and residents affected by the BP oil spill. It was administered by one of Obama’s political appointees and there is NO Congressional oversight.

61. Obama did nothing to Holder (abetted a felony) when Holder refused to prosecute two New Black Panther Party members for brandishing weapons in front of a voting location in Filthadelphia. A direct violation of the voters Civil Rights.

62. Obama bypassed the Senate with a recess appointment of Donald Berwick as the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Violates policy. http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?postid=273766

63. Obama illegally fired Sherry Sherrod from the USDA over remarks she made at an NAACP meeting in March 2010. He violated her due process.

64. Obama violated contractual law when his regime cancelled 77 oil field development contracts previously approved by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, under Bush 43’s administration. This keeps us from extracting from 2-3 TRILLION barrels of oil.

65. Obama used the DHS to determine the political affiliation of Americans making FOIA requests about the Regime. This led to requests being stalled, lost, etc.

66. Obama acted in April 2009, at the G20 meeting, to expand the Special Drawing Rights, that now gives the IMF more control over the US economy.

67. Obama issued an EO on July 12, 2011, attempting to restrict the Second Amendment rights of US citizens in Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona.

68. Obama’s allowed the FCC to assume authority over the internet, in direct violation of a federal appeals court that DENIED the commission that authority. In December, the FCC voted and passed the first federal regulations on internet traffic.

69. Obama allows the DHS/TSA to routinely violate the 4th/5th Amendment rights of Americans at airports, train stations, and VIPER checkpoints.

70. Obama allows the DOJ in 2009 to stop enforcing federal drug laws in regards to marijuana.

71. Obama attempted to bypass Congress and raise the Debt Ceiling by “reinterpreting” the 14th Amendment.

72. Obama just bypassed the Senate AGAIN by appointing Richard Cordray to a new unconstitutional agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Violates policy. http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?postid=273766

73. Obama deprived the due process of two U.S.citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, by assassinating them via a CIA drone attack in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011. This also raises the question of an act of war against Yemen for firing into a sovereign nation. Obama said in 2008:

“No. I reject the Bush Administration’s claim that the President has plenary authority under the U.S. Constitution to detainU.S.citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.”

74. Obama allowed Education Secretary Arne Duncan to grant waivers to No Child Left Behind however, this is a law enacted by Congress and neither Obama nor Duncan have the authority to authorize that.

75. Obama allowed the bailouts to grant money without the authority to do so. “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7U.S.Constitution

76. Obama allowed Operation Castaway to occur, which allowed firearms laws to be broken through coercion of legal gun dealers.

77. Obama bypassed the Senate to appoint three people to the National Labor Relations Board. (Naturally, they’ll all be Obomobots) Violates policy. http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?postid=273766

78. Obama twenty three illegal Executive Orders to impose a Gun Grab, which is a direct violation of the Second Amendment.

79. Providing aid and comfort to the enemy by announcing the date for unilateral withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Thereby providing the impetus for the escalation of the green on blue attacks

80. Obama by announcing the date for unilateral withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby triggered the disintegration of the green respect that had been a goal of the training mission.

81. Obama deliberately interfering in the elections of our chief ally in the Middle East, Israel to try and influence the result.

82. Obama supplying the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt with F16 Jets and 220 Abram Tanks, sworn enemies of the USA and our Chief Ally Israel.

83. Obama nominating a Muslim John Brennan to be Director of the CIA,when America is at War with Radical Islamic Terrorists.

84. Obama nominating Chuck Hagel, a sworn enemy of our Chief Ally Israel, to be Secretary of Defense

85. Obama and Holder breaking Constitutional Law, by introducing Drone attacks on Americans.

86. Obama is using his Executive Decree to allow 80,000 Muslims to enter America next year, and 100,000 Muslims for the next five years.

87. The Obama administration failed to enforce a century-old law meant to prevent immigrants from taking root in the U.S. only to live on the government dole

88. The Obama administration’s release of hundreds and potentially thousands of illegal-alien criminals from U.S. detention centers

89. The sequester is actually a plot by Obama to cut defense spending and transfer money to “ACORN-like” groups that would help elect Democratic candidates.

90. The Obama administration’s allegedly revealing his political opponents’ private tax information to the media.

91. Obama allowing the third Saudi Bomber in Boston be deported to Saudi Arabia – Arch Terrorist Osama Bin Laden’s son

92. Obama Will Not Charge Boston Jihad Bombers as Enemy Combatants

93. White House Link to Illegal Taping of Sen. McConnell

94. Allowing Islamic Terror Group the Taliban to flourish and operate on American soil.

95. The Obama Government has been caught promoting the delivery of taxpayer-funded welfare benefits to foreigners – “These disclosures further confirm the fact that the Obama administration cannot be trusted to protect our borders or enforce our immigration laws. And the coordination with a foreign government to attack the policies of an American state is contemptible,”

96. Agents of the Obama Regime conspired in 2008 to get Obama’s name illegally put on the Indiana Primary Ballot.

97. Obama Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel Involved In Massive Vote Fraud Scandal? http://j.mp/15QrBsb

98. TREASON…Obama Government Hired Al Qaeda to Defend the Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi?

99. Obama Military Considers Stopping Christians from Proselytizing

100. Obama and SecState Clinton’s efforts to bring the US under the UN’s Small Arms Treaty are direct violations of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

UNKNOWN: How many exact other violations of his Oath of Office.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

See original here: http://www.knowthelies.com/node/8922

Recently, a new Gallup poll delivered some bad news to mainstream media–only one fourth of people asked believe what it says.  The Gallup story said, “Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news – with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either.”  (Click here for the complete Gallup story.) 

This is not a recent trend according to Gallup and other polls done on this subject.  Last summer, comedian Jon Stewart of the “Daily Show” was “Most Trusted” newscaster.  I wrote about this in a piece I did last year called “The Soft Truth.”  I said, “He had almost as many votes as Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams combined.  Katie Couric, according to the Time Magazine poll, came in dead last.  Boy, if that is a not a wake-up call to mainstream media, I do not know what is. . . . Doing superficial event type news programming is something I call “The Soft Truth.”  It is more or less superficial news and is cheap, fast to produce, and you will not make enemies. The news in mainstream media has mostly become just the stuff between the commercials. Then, there is what I call “The Hard Truth.” This story is not cheap, it ties up the company lawyers and management and, if done right, you will piss some people off.  And even if there are cutbacks because of advertising shortfalls, you can still ask hard questions.”

Do you see any reporters even asking any hard questions these days?  I guess I should be happy the mainstream media is in the tank because Internet sites like this one and many others are gaining popularity for exposing “The Hard Truth.”  I am also not exactly sure why the mainstream media acts this way.

Maybe the press, as a whole, is just not brave enough to put out the real story.  Some journalists are doing good reporting, but often their stories are downplayed or are accused of spreading unfounded doom and gloom for telling the truth.   Maybe corporate America, which owns most of the mainstream media, is subtly distorting the news to make things look better than they really are.   The mainstream media completely missed the financial meltdown of 2008 and covered it like some unforeseen event.  There were plenty of signs we were headed for trouble, and no one wanted to report on them except a few people.  Here is what I said on CNN in March 2008.

Now, we are headed for trouble again and, yet, the mainstream media is engaged in this idiotic debate on whether or not there is going to be another plunge in the economy.  Nearly all the signs are pointing down, and difficult questions are arising about the solvency of America.  Recently, Laurence Kotlikoff, an economics professor at Boston University, cited an IMF report and said the U.S. is “Bankrupt.”  Why is this not news and at least worthy of as much equal time as the pin-headed Jet Blue flight attendant that slid down an escape hatch at JFK airport?  Please tell me why the USA being “bankrupt” isn’t of profound importance to every single American?  Every week, the mainstream media makes my point by pushing worthless cheap content.  It budgets for superficial stories (The Soft Truth) and ignores the really important stuff (The Hard Truth) that might call for some tough questions and ruffled feathers.

I worked for ABC and CNN for 9 years as an investigative reporter.  I didn’t get a story on the air without approval from the company lawyers and management.   The networks and cable are doing a lot less of that kind of work these days because they don’t want to spend the money.  Mainstream media is putting its resources on superficial stories instead of covering news that really affects your life.   So, when I hear polls that say people do not trust the mainstream media, I am not surprised.

By Greg Hunter’s

See original here: http://usawatchdog.com/mainstream-media-is-crushing-public-confidence/

Colorado and Washington are racing to meet deadlines for setting up a framework to regulate the sale of marijuana for recreational use, even as federal authorities weigh the future of the new industry.

Colorado has given its Revenue Department until July 1 to draft rules for pot farming, distribution and retailing after voters legalized possession by adults and sales in stores. Washington has set Dec. 1 as its deadline to have regulations in place.

 Enlarge image

States Legalizing Pot Race to Define Regulation for Market

Dean J. Koepfler/Tacoma News Tribune/MCT/Getty Images

Washington state has a proposed law that will allow adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana under government control and taxation.

Washington state has a proposed law that will allow adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana under government control and taxation. Photographer: Dean J. Koepfler/Tacoma News Tribune/MCT/Getty Images

March 6 (Bloomberg) — Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn talks with Bloomberg’s Alison Vekshin about the city’s preparations for the legal sale of marijuana.     In November Washington voters approved a ballot initiative making it legal for those 21 and older to have marijuana, allowing commercial storefronts to sell it. (Source: Bloomberg)

March 6 (Bloomberg) — Brian Vicente, a Denver attorney, talks with Bloomberg’s Jennifer Oldham about the possible impact of the legalization of adult recreational use of marijuana in Colorado on the state’s economy.     Colorado voters approved an initiative and Governor John Hickenlooper signed an executive order that allows adults 21 and over to possess an ounce of marijuana.  (Source: Bloomberg)

“This is brand new and unprecedented,” said Colorado state Representative Dan Pabon, appointed to Governor John Hickenlooper’s task force to devise how to implement the law. “There’s not a lot of evidence we can look to, other than using deductive reasoning, to determine the best course.”

Both states are proceeding knowing they could be stopped at any point by the federal government, which deems marijuana a controlled substance and cracked down on state-sanctioned medical-marijuana operations in California in 2011.

“We are considering what the federal response to those new statutes will be,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today. “We will have the ability to announce what our policy will be relatively soon.”

In a letter to the committee, nine former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs urged “federal intervention and preemption” to stop legalization in Colorado and Washington to protect the nation’s health and safety.

$35 Billion Market

Estimates for the market, if legalized nationwide, vary from $10 billion to $120 billion a year, with $35 billion to $45 billion being likely, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tax collections from such sales could reach $9 billion to as much as $20 billion, according to Brad Barker, a Bloomberg Industries analyst, who cited projections by the Cato Institute, a nonprofit research group, and the Congressional Research Service in a March 1 report.

Save prostitution in Nevada, few examples exist of industries that are legal at the state level while restricted by federal law. State officials are without a framework for building a legal industry out of an underground one.

The closest parallel is Prohibition, an era ushered in by the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which in 1920 forbade the manufacture, sale and distribution of alcohol. It was repealed in 1933 under the 21st Amendment, which gives states authority to regulate the sale of alcohol within their borders.

One key difference is that infrastructure, such as former bars and breweries, remained in place for use when alcohol was allowed again.

Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana dispensaries in both states are interested in converting their business into distributors of recreational pot. Colorado is home to about 500 dispensaries. Washington has no estimate, according to Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the state health department.

Shy Sadis, 40, founder and chief executive officer of The Joint, a Seattle-based medical-marijuana dispensary opened in 2010, wants to transform his shop to a retail store once the new rules go into effect.

“We want to be for-profit instead of nonprofit,” he said. “It’s going to make my sales jump tremendously.”

Attorneys, real estate agents, insurers and accountants also are tapping in.

“We predict the market will be four to five times bigger than the current market,” said Brian Vicente, a Denver-based lawyer who said he has advised many of Colorado’s medical- marijuana dispensary operators. “There are about 500,000 people who admit to using medical marijuana once a month, so quite a few people who are not medical marijuana patients will be going to these new stores.”

Growth Expectations

Vicente, who co-authored Amendment 64, the Colorado initiative that legalized recreational marijuana use, said he tripled his office space in February to deal with an influx of new business when he moved from a cramped third-story walk-up into a brick mansion across the street.

“We’re at the dawn of a new industry,” Vicente said. “We’re looking essentially at going from an annual business of zero to an annual business of hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few years.”

In Washington, Robert McVay, a lawyer with Seattle-based Harris & Moure PLLC, which has helped open medical-marijuana dispensaries in the state, said the new law is conservative about retail pot sales and use.

Not Amsterdam

“People want to open things like Amsterdam-style cafes, but frankly it’s not allowed under current law,” he said. “A lot of these extravagant and unique business ideas that are brought to us — we have to rain on people’s parades.”

Adults ages 21 and older already can legally possess up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana for recreational use in the two states. Marijuana sales remain illegal until the new rules are put in place.

A Colorado task force of state officials and legislators, dispensary representatives and residents completed work last week on plans to recommend that lawmakers draft bills to allow purchases by out-of-state visitors, restrict advertising, include the drug in a ban on smoking at bars and restaurants, and require labels on potency.

Colorado’s legislature, which adjourns May 8, is required under the ballot initiative to revise the criminal code so adults 21 and over can possess an ounce of marijuana and consider how to impose a 15 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana sales.

Industry Taxes

In Washington, where producers, processors and retailers will each pay a 25 percent tax on their selling price to the state liquor board, licenses for marijuana growers may be available by midyear and at year-end for retailers.

The state liquor board is seeking public input through forums that have been standing room only, said Brian Smith, an agency spokesman.

“There’s a lot of passion about this issue,” Smith said. “Many would like to see it limited to small growers.”

Seattle also favors opportunities for small, locally owned companies over bigger firms, said Mayor Mike McGinn, who backs the measure and spoke at his first marijuana trade association meeting in January.

Mayoral Support

“This is kind of stock and trade for mayors to go to trade associations and talk to them about what’s happening in government and how we can help their business — first time ever for marijuana,” McGinn said in a telephone interview. “And what was unusual about it is it was just like all the other trade-association meetings I’ve been to.”

In Denver, the City Council will decide in April whether to opt out of Amendment 64, joining scores of other Colorado communities in forsaking recreational marijuana.

The question of whether the federal government will prevent implementation of the new laws is creating uncertainty for state regulators. Colorado’s Hickenlooper, 61, is in contact with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver on the matter, said Eric Brown, a spokesman. Washington Governor Jay Inslee, 62, met in January with Holder to discuss the issue. Both governors are Democrats.

Other obstacles include a provision in the federal tax code that prevents state-licensed, medical-marijuana businesses from deducting expenses including advertising, rent and payroll costs, said Vicente, the Denver lawyer.

Bank Interest

U.S. banks, which are supervised by federal agencies and subject to federal rules, can’t offer services to the industry, including business loans.

Some banks “would welcome the opportunity to offer the services but they can’t because of the federal government,” said Robert Rowe, senior counsel at the American Bankers Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. “They’re afraid of what would happen if they tried to do something.”

Congress must remove the controlled substance designation from marijuana for banks to work with pot businesses, Rowe said in a telephone interview.

A proposal to make that change was introduced yesterday in Congress by U.S. Representative Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat.

In Seattle, The Joint’s Sadis predicts the city will become the next Amsterdam.

“People are going to be coming here and when they come here they’re going to want to get off the plane and experience cannabis,” said Sadis, who said he plans to expand his business.

“It’s such a great feeling to be one of the pioneers of this industry and seeing where it’s going to go in the future,” Sadis said.

See original here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-06/states-legalizing-pot-race-to-define-market-s-regulation.html

In a meeting rife with angry and emotional exchanges, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a new ban on semiautomatic firearms modeled after military assault weapons.

The measure now goes to the full Senate for consideration as part of a package of gun measures prompted by a Connecticut school massacre last December that killed 20 first graders.

However, the proposed ban has little chance of becoming law due to fierce opposition by the National Rifle Association and a certain GOP filibuster.

Even supporters acknowledged the difficulty ahead in passing an updated version of a similar ban that became law in 1994 and expired without congressional re-authorization a decade letter.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said he doubted whether the new prohibition could get the 60 votes needed for passage.

Instead, Whitehouse called for breaking off a provision that would limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, saying he believed it could win Senate approval as a separate measure.

Sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, the proposed ban won approval from the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote with 10 Democrats supporting it and eight Republicans opposed.

The panel previously approved other proposals that would expand background checks on all gun sales and enact tougher laws against firearms trafficking and straw purchases. Analysts believe those have a better chance of clearing the Senate.

Heated debate by committee members on Thursday showed the partisan divide over gun legislation, as well as the challenge supporters face in getting any substantive measures through Congress.

At one point, Feinstein and Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, reacted sharply to remarks by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about the need for the committee to legislate based on facts and the Constitution instead of passion over the gun issue ignited by the Newtown, Connecticut, killings.

When Cruz asked if Feinstein believed the First Amendment also could be limited in the same way he contended the proposed ban would limit the Second Amendment right to bear arms, she shot back: “I’m not a sixth grader.”

Noting her 20 years on the committee and experience as mayor of San Francisco, she said in a rising voice how she had seen “bodies that have been shot with these weapons,” adding that the schoolchildren killed in Newtown “were dismembered” by the bullets.

“I’ve studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well-educated and I thank you for the lecture,” she continued, noting her bill exempts 2,271 weapons from the ban.

“Isn’t that enough for the people in the United States? Do they need a bazooka? Do they need other high-powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? I don’t think so,” she said.

She concluded by telling Cruz that “I come from a different place than you do. I respect your views. I ask you to respect my views.”

Cruz and other Republicans on the committee contended that Feinstein’s proposal would prevent law-abiding gun owners from possessing weapons of choice, while criminals would still be able to get them to leave people unable to properly defend themselves.

“Why would you deny for defensive purposes otherwise law-abiding citizens to be able to use an equivalent firepower to defend themselves?” argued Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “It’s not much satisfaction to say that criminals are gonna have access to the whole range of weapons that they will have access to because they don’t care about the laws that are passed. And we’re gonna give the American citizen a pea shooter to defend themselves with.”

President Barack Obama called for the legislative steps in response to the massacre in Newtown by a lone gunman armed with an assault weapon that jolted the nation.

The Senate panel passed versions of much of the package Obama proposed, but Republicans made their opposition clear.

“Now the full Senate and the House need to vote on this bill, as well as the measures advanced in the past week,” Obama said in a statement on Thursday.

One measure by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York would mandate background checks for all gun sales, including private transactions.

It would also require increased cooperation by states with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and would prohibit people deemed by the courts as unfit to own guns from obtaining them.

Cornyn said Thursday that he would propose amendments to Schumer’s bill on the Senate floor, and he also mentioned that a bipartisan substitute to the measure could be offered.

The NRA has said increased checks are nothing more than an attempt to create a national gun registry, a move the group vehemently opposes.

Leahy challenged such assertions on Thursday, saying in a toughly worded final statement that opponents of gun legislation should stop spreading false information about the panel’s proposals.

“Second Amendment rights are not at risk,” he said. “Let’s not put an issue out here that’s not out here. But lives are at risk.”

Reflecting on his decades on the panel, Leahy called for members of both parties to “come together to become a safer and more secure society.”

“We do not need false charges about gun registries and gun registration to scare people when no such thing is being proposed or will be proposed,” he said.

Another measure approved by the panel earlier this week would establish a framework for the Department of Education to set safety guidelines aimed at protecting schools from gun violence.

See original here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/14/politics/senate-assault-weapons/index.html

A new proposal aimed at eliminating the hiring of illegal immigrants by issuing a biometric plastic ID cardthat all Americans would eventually have to procure is making its way around Washington, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Charles Schumer, a New York democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina republican, are the co-sponors of the bill, and believe it will solve the problem entirety. Meanwhile, privacy advocates claim the bill is a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights.

“It is fundamentally a massive invasion of people’s privacy,” Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, told the news provider. “We’re not only talking about fingerprinting every American, treating ordinary Americans like criminals in order to work. We’re also talking about a card that would quickly spread from work to voting to travel to pretty much every aspect of American life that requires identification.”

Smartcard initiatives can be both cumbersome and expensive for governments to install. They require complete cooperation of citizens. In South Africa, a plan to link government pensions with state-issued plastic ID cards has been tabled for a year due to rising costs, according to ContactlessIDNews.com.

See original here:http://www.idsuperstore.com/idnews/government-id-news/controversial-new-plastic-id-card-legislation-swirling-through-washington-19659205/