The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “war on drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

White supremacist and nazi websites and forums are all ablaze today with fury over the "stifling of the rights" of their friends in Italy to spread Jew hating and racism free from any interference from the State.  Now, I am not much of a fan of THE STATE, but it doesn't bother me one bit when it, for whatever reason, cracks down on the likes of these bastards.

(CBS/AP) Small but raucous protests were held in dozens of cities around the world Friday in support of three members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who were convicted of hooliganism in Moscow.

A demonstration by supporters of the jailed feminist punk band Pussy Riot takes place outside the Russian Embassy on Aug. 17, 2012, in London. (Credit: Getty)

I was on the 15th floor of the Southern U.S. District Court in New York in the courtroom of Judge Katherine Forrest last Tuesday. It was the final hearing in the lawsuit I brought in January against President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. I filed the suit, along with lawyers Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran, over Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We were late joined by six co-plaintiffs including Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg.

More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for pro-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the elections of May 6. This is the disconcerting result of an analysis carried out by authoritative newspaper To Vima in several constituencies in Athens, where 5,000 police officers in service in the Greek capital also cast their ballot. At some polling stations, Golden Dawn obtained 19 to 24% of votes.

In a stunning move, on March 16, 2012, Barack Obama signed an Executive Order stating that the President and his specifically designated Secretaries now have the authority to commandeer all domestic U.S. resources including food and water. The EO also states that the President and his Secretaries have the authority to seize all transportation, energy, and infrastructure inside the United States as well as forcibly induct/draft American citizens into the military. The EO also contains a vague reference in regards to harnessing American citizens to fulfill “labor requirements” for the purposes of national defense.

The Missouri House has for the second year in a row passed priority legislation to make driver’s license tests be given only in English and prohibit translators during testing with exception to sign language. A similar bill was passed in 2011 but didn’t make it through the Senate. However, that doesn’t absolve the Senate, as a committee is pursuing a bill to make schools run immigration status checks as a requirement for enrolling in English as a second language classes, making cops profile suspected immigrants during stops, and making it a misdemeanor for not carrying papers. In 2008, the Missouri General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to make all government proceedings only available to English speakers.

Ben Kessler, a student at the University of North Texas and an environmental activist, was more than a little surprised that an FBI agent questioned his philosophy professor and acquaintances about his whereabouts and his sign-waving activities aimed at influencing local gas drilling rules.

Last week the United States Congress passed dangerous legislation that would make free speech a felony and seriously restrict political protest. The legislation will give federal agents sweeping powers to arrest and bring felony criminal charges against citizens engaged in political protests anywhere in the U.S.

A friend of mine, Ryan towne, who is a very hard core Marxist Leninist and a lesbian suffered severe injuries last night when hammerskin skinheads crashed a gay bar she frequents in the Bay Area.  She lives in Oakland but I don't yet know exactly where this occured.  She works out constantly, does survival training and is damn tough and she took out several of the attackers herself.