DHS Report Justifies Warrantless, Suspicionless Searches Of Electronics Near Borders

	Latest From Chip Wood June 7, 2013 Obama To Ignore Senate, Sign 2nd Amendment-Violating U.N. Gun Treaty » A majority in the U.S. Senate has told President Barack Obama not to do it. There's no doubt that an overwhelming majority of Americans would oppose it — if the media ever told them about it. Nonetheless, this past Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that Obama will sign a controversial gun-control treaty promulgated by the United Nations. More » Freedom Watch Big Brother Hears All » Despite repeated claims by members of the elected class and government functionaries that the USA Patriot Act was designed to catch "terrorists" and was not being used to spy on Americans, the National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon. The records include both local calls and those made to people abroad. More » Personal Liberty News Who's Breaking News On White House Scandals? Not The Mainstream Media » With the exception of some dogged reporters who've essentially had to go rogue within their own organizations in order to delve into the Benghazi scandal (and been persecuted by their own employers as a thank-you), there's been precious little issues-based reporting, and a truckload of damage control, emanating from the American mainstream press over the IRS scandal; the AP scandal; Benghazi and, now, Verizon.  More » New York Lawmaker Wants It To Be A Felony To 'Annoy' A Cop » The New York State Senate has passed a bill that would make it illegal for people in the State to "annoy" police officers; critics believe the bill, if passed by the State's other legislative body, will enable police to abuse their power. More » DHS Report Justifies Warrantless, Suspicionless Searches Of Electronics Near Borders » The Department of Homeland Security has released a long-awaited 2011 assessment of the civil liberties impact of its policy of conducting suspicionless searches of electronic devices at the border in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU calls the results of the DHS assessment "disappointing" for civil liberties advocates. More » Members Of Congress Got $238k In Welfare Last Year Thanks To Farm Bill » In socially conservative, rural States, a lot of sworn Republicans' staunch talk about smaller government and ending welfare melts away to the loudest of Liberal bellyaching when talk turns to trimming or ending agricultural subsidies. Now, a new report reveals that members of Congress received nearly $250,000 in Farm Bill entitlements last year, violating the spirit of what was supposed to be a temporary bailout designed to lift struggling Depression-era farmers. More » Demanding Accountability The Destruction of Justice: Plea Bargains A plea bargain is defined simply as a "deal" between a criminal defendant and his/her prosecutor. The accused gets a reduced charge or charges and subsequent sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to a lesser crime. Most qualified information shows that plea bargains take place in 90-plus-percent of all criminal cases filed in the U.S. each year and innocent victims of false prosecution feel the brunt of it. Usually, an innocent defendant is charged with numerous (stacked) criminal charges and they are informed by their own attorney that they are facing many years in prison. The defendant's attorney usually explains the downside to not accepting the plea bargain (lesser sentence) in a subtle, yet alarming manner. Faced with a life-ending sentence if convicted on the stacked charges, most defendants break and take the deceptive plea bargain. More »