Post by Aaron Cynic. Conservatives and President Obama alike are outraged over revelations the IRS has been targeting Tea Party groups. Last week, the IRS admitted to giving extra scrutiny to groups applying for non profit status if their applications contained the words “patriot” or “Tea Party.” Calling it an “organizational shortcut,” Lois Lerner, director [...]

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina detained and threatened two journalists covering a march outside the Democratic National Convention over the weekend. Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake and Steve Horn, a contributor to Truthout covering the DNC for WORT-FM in Madison, Wisconsin, noticed four men taking photos of a contingent of undocumented immigrants during a march called [...]

Image via Wikipedia A contract proposal from the Defense Department’s research arm DARPA revealed the Pentagon is looking to develop computer algorithms which would mine data from social media websites and use it to track and analyze the behavior of various criminal and terrorist groups (h/t Mashable). In order to understand group dynamics and “forecast [...]

Recently, House of Representatives panel discussed potentially amending the Espionage Act to prosecute journalists who report leaked information. In response to several instances where reporters have used information leaked to them by confidential sources to write stories, the panel suggested amending the law, which was enacted in 1917 to prosecute spies and others who divulge [...]

Article by Aaron Cynic Illinois legislators are still wrestling with the issue of average citizens recording police activities on the streets, particularly in regard to the upcoming NATO/G8 demonstrations in May in Chicago. Local law enforcement, however, will be able to keep their eyes and ears trained on anyone planning to protest, and will now [...]

“It was a burning feeling in my throat for me…There was a lot of people who got it in their eyes. They were burning, they were screaming, crying.” “…Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up.” “This one guy was coming up to my wife going, ‘Call an ambulance! Call [...]

For the second time, Occupy Chicago attempted to “take the horse,” a small plot of concrete at Congress and Michigan Avenue in Grant Park. For a second time, the Chicago Police arrested demonstrators attempting to stay past the 11pm curfew. This time, 130 activists were held in jail for a much longer period, some until [...]

I will use their hegemony to recreate it into ours.

While major media may treat the Occupy Wall Street movement tepidly, if paying attention at all, a different feeling hangs in the air in America. In homes and workplaces across the nation, transmitted via technology and through the hearts, minds and voices of the dispossessed – onto the plazas, town squares and streets – thousands [...]

Once again, the government is finding a way to use Twitter and other social networking platforms as tools to curtail civil liberties. Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger of Queens, New York were arrested on charges of hindering apprehension, criminal use of communication facility and possessing instruments of crime. The charges stem from Madison and Wallschlaeger [...]