9 Free Documentaries: Inside Smart Weapon Scopes, How Money is Made, Manufacturing Consent, How America Went Postal, Life At Any Price, Hunting the Internet Bullies, The Lord is Not on Trial Today, Contagion, Four Horsemen

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Long Shot: Inside the Scope of Smart Weapons
In spring of 2013, Texas-based start up TrackingPoint Solutions released the first ever precision-guided firearm, which is essentially a long-range, laser-guided robo rifle. Call it the gun of tomorrow: The technology is so advanced we’ve heard it can have beginners killing at extreme distances with single-shot accuracy in mere minutes.The PGF’s closed-loop system is based off jet fighter lock and launch technology, something TrackingPoint CEO Jason Schauble says not only marks the next great paradigm shift in the evolution of firearms—it helps users make ethical kill shots too. But critics of the PGF platform, no doubt part and parcel of a rising tide of intelligent killer apps, say the gun, or rather its proprietary scope, marks the dawn of “skill-free killing”.


How Money Is MadeHow Money is Made details the processes involved in printing money, primarily the US dollar. It also explores the world of counterfeiting and fraud that embodies the monetary world.


Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media
Noam Chomsky’s documentary “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media” from 1988. analyses mass media and the political ramifications and implications of the messages broadcasted in the United States, being its goal to direct public opinion while “numbing” the people and maiming their ability to educate themselves and effectively produce antagonical political criticism and judgement regarding the established officially broadcasted messages crafted by the powerful in conjunction with mass media outlets throughout the US!


Murder By Proxy: How America Went Postal
Murder By Proxy: How America Went Postal is a documentary film that examines the phenomenon of spree killing, particularly in a workplace, that became known in the United States as “going postal”. The film argues that the phenomenon originated in the United States Postal Service as a result of hostile work environment following the Postal Reorganization Act of 1971 and then spread to the rest of society.


Life At Any Price
Two-thirds of the world’s women live in countries where abortion can be obtained for a variety of social, economic or personal reasons. In other nations it is allowed only in cases of rape, foetal abnormality or when a woman’s life is at risk.


Hunting The Internet Bullies: When Social Networking Turns Bad
Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have changed our way of communication. Despite the many advantages that come with this change, there are some serious problems that have occurred  One of them is cyber bullying. Pop star Cher Lloyd is a famous example for a victim of internet bullying. She shares her story and fears with BBC-reporter Declan Lawn.


The Lord is Not on Trial Here Today
The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning documentary that tells the compelling personal story of the late Vashti McCollum, and how her efforts to protect her ten year-old son led to one of the most important and landmark First Amendment cases in U.S. Supreme Court history - the case that established the separation of church and state in public schools.


















ContagionIn India a deadly, mutant strain of tuberculosis is spreading across the country. In the shadows of India's capital, New Delhi, Anjou Kashab quietly battles her demons. Her frail body is being ravaged by tuberculosis. Both her lungs are infected and she's on a cocktail of pills and injections to stay alive. For 10 years Anjou has been fighting the illness, but the drugs haven't worked. She's seen more than a dozen doctors and swallowed thousands of prescription pills in the hope of a cure. Instead of the vibrant, young woman she once was, Anjou is now skin and bone, weighing just 29 kilos.

Four Horsemen – Revealing the fundamental flaws in the economic system
As the global economy continues to veer from crisis to catastrophe – many more people are looking for wise counsel on how to reshape the Western Economy. Over the last three years 23 global thinkers – many of whom have been marginalized have come together to break their silence and explain how the world really works. Their views transcend mainstream media and short term political explanations to describe simple terms what needs to be addressed in our universities, governments and corporate structures. Ee will not be returning to “business as usual”.

24.Sept.2012: Pastors Challenge IRS by Candidate Endorsement, the Evil of Monsanto and GMOs, Creationists Threaten U.S. Science, Worst Campaign Ever, Topless Warriors, Walmart March, Justice for U.S. Palestinians, Juvenile Justice System Inhumane, Democracy for Sale, Zionist Fanatics, Jesse Ventura for President 2016

More than 1,000 pastors plan to challenge IRS by endorsing presidential candidate

The annual event, dubbed “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” has been organized by the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom. The pastors participating in the event plan to preach about the election, endorse a candidate, and send video of their sermon to the IRS.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/23/more-than-1000-pastors-plan-to-challenge-irs-by-endorsing-presidential-candidate

Free Speech in the Age of YouTube

Internet companies are a different breed. Because they traffic in speech - rather than, say, corn syrup or warplanes - they make decisions every day about what kind of expression is allowed where. And occasionally they come under pressure to explain how they decide, on whose laws and values they rely, and how they distinguish between toxic speech that must be taken down and that which can remain.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13619-free-speech-in-the-age-of-youtube

Freedom and Restraint

The irony of a humanitarian law that protected slave owners rather than slaves was not lost on European critics. But Americans argued that to seize an enemy's slaves was to make war on civilian economic resources. 

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13616-freedom-and-restraint

Ten Ways Corporate Food Is Threatening Our Food Supplies

I don’t entirely trust the US government any more to look out for our health. We are increasingly exposed to thousands of chemicals that haven’t really been tested (plastics are full of them). We’re not even given the courtesy of knowing which foods are genetically modified so we can make a market choice for the natural ones.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/13614-focus-ten-ways-corporate-food-is-threatening-our-food-supplies

Is overfeeding children abuse?

If a child becomes morbidly obese under their parents care, should the child then be removed from the family home and looked after elsewhere? Is categorising clinical obesity as a child protection issue yet another example of meddling bureaucrats in our nanny state exercising control, or should a child's physical health take utmost precedence regardless of the consequences?

http://therebel.org/opinion/society/34555-is-overfeeding-children-abuse

Facebook terminates face recognition tool in Europe, while depleting privacy in the US

US social media giant Facebook is deleting its facial recognition data it collected from European users and plans to soon terminate the feature there. 

http://therebel.org/politics/europe/34486-facebook-terminates-face-recognition-tool-in-europe-while-depleting-privacy-in-the-us

The evil of Monsanto and GMOs: Bad technology, endless greed & the destruction of humanity

As virtuous people, we expect corporations to act with a sense of fundamental human decency. We expect them to behave within the boundaries of respecting human life, honest business practices and reliable science. We (naively) wish that corporations would act like decent human beings.

http://therebel.org/opinion/life/34578-the-evil-of-monsanto-and-gmos-bad-technology-endless-greed-the-destruction-of-humanity

MeK De-listing: Washington Openly Embraces Terrorism

That the “war on terror” is a sick, manipulative joke cannot be more clearly demonstrated by the decision of the US State Department yesterday to remove the Marxist-Islamist death and murder cult, Mujahedeen Khalq (MeK), from the US terror list.

http://therebel.org/opinion/violence/34579-mek-de-listing-washington-openly-embraces-terrorism

Renewed boycott announced against GMO pushing mega-corporations

Proposition 37, a Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food Initiative, plainly states that raw or processed foods offered for sale to consumers must be properly labeled if they contain GMOs, and that no food products labeled "natural" can legally contain GMOs. Passage of this important ballot measure is the key to sparking GMO labeling laws nationwide, as it has the potential to drastically change for the better the way major food companies formulate their products. (http://www.carighttoknow.org/)

http://therebel.org/opinion/life/34519-renewed-boycott-announced-against-gmo-pushing-mega-corporations 

Revealed: World's Most Predatory Company is Poisoning You

New Study finds “severe toxic effects” of commonly used Monsanto herbicides.

http://www.alternet.org/food/revealed-worlds-most-predatory-company-poisoning-you

There’s no Intolerance like Tolerance of Intolerance

I am an advocate for free speech. This may not surprise you, since many of the topics I write on are somewhat controversial, at least in the eyes and minds of some people. The right to free speech underpins the democratic system, one where the voice and opinion of an individual can be used to influence the actions and decisions of governmental power. Free speech, and freedom of speech, are featured along the separation of church and state in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution
http://martinspribble.com/archives/3326

Regular Consumption of Sugary Beverages Linked to Increased Genetic Risk of Obesity Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health have found that greater consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked with a greater genetic susceptibility to high body mass index (BMI) and increased risk of obesity. The study reinforces the view that environmental and genetic factors may act together to shape obesity risk.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2012-releases/sugary-beverages-genetic-risk-obesity.html

Bill Nye warns: Creation views threaten US science


"The Science Guy" speaks out against bringing the Bible into schools

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/24/bill_nye_warns_creation_views_threaten_us_science

Twitter Chief Says Company Will Fight Against Releasing Private Content

he chief executive of Twitter, Dick Costolo, has said the company will continue to fight legal challenges brought against its users by officials who want access to their archived tweets.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/339-182/13608-twitter-chief-says-company-will-fight-against-releasing-private-content

Worst Campaign Ever?

t's time to start worrying about Mitt Romney. Seriously. The guy may just be running the worst campaign ever. And yes, that includes the McDLT, print ads for organic hemp underwear and France in '39. Not to mention McCain/Palin in '08. Which currently holds the gold standard for lousy campaigns. Sure to be a Hall of Fame inductee in a couple years.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13610-worst-campaign-ever

Mitt Romney Sincerely Hates You

Most politicians are adept at telling people what they want to hear, but by both Democratic and Republican estimation, Romney is a special case who appears to have no convictions at all.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/20/mitt-romney-sincerely-hates-you/

Topless warriors start boot camp for global feminism



In a chaotic and crumbling former public washhouse in a rundown district of northern Paris, Inna Shevchenko was explaining how a large leather punchbag hanging from the rafters might be used by the foot soldiers of a new generation of feminists.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/22/topless-warriors-start-boot-camp-for-global-feminism

How the Mitt Romney video killed the American Dream

Mitt Romney's historic gaffe caught on video -- published, with great timing, by the left-leaning Mother Jones magazine -- in which he said that his campaign was writing off 47% of American voters since they "depended on government" handouts, was committed in an equally significant manner, as he delivered the remarks to a closed group of potential major donors in Florida. GOP stalwart and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan is calling for an intervention in the campaign, and even some fellow Republicans are scampering to distance themselves from the inflammatory remarks.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-the-Mitt-Romney-video-by-Naomi-Wolf-120922-172.html

The GMO debate is over; GM crops must be immediately outlawed; Monsanto halted from threatening humanity

The GMO debate is over. There is no longer any legitimate, scientific defense of growing GM crops for human consumption. The only people still clinging to the outmoded myth that "GMOs are safe" are scientific mercenaries with financial ties to Monsanto and the biotech industry. 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-GMO-debate-is-over-GM-by-Mike-Adams-120922-488.html

Workers March to Demand Better Conditions from Walmart

As the marchers came down chants started to be heard. "Wallmart eschucha, estamos en la lucha," (Walmart listen, we are in the fight). "1,2.3,4 we don't want your Walmart store, 5,6,7,8, Walmart discriminates). "Los Pueblos unidos, james seran vencidos." (The people united, will never be defeated.)

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Workers-Demand-Better-Cond-by-nadin-abbott-120923-494.html

Constitutional Amendment: Stop the Corporate "Coup d'etat"!

A Billionaire/Millionaire can contribute money to a political campaign that buys air-time with people believing what they hear. We see three issues to address: 1- Amendment, Corporations/like entities are property, not a person, artificial or otherwise. 2- Amendment, Corporations/like entities are excluded from any involvement in our electoral/political system, including financial. 3- Only a well-informed electorate can take control of their own government. The only answer to #3 is to educate the U.S. electorate. Do you not find it strange, that children in other countries are taught and learn more about the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence than our own children?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Constitutional-Amendment--by-Paul-Winger-120921-214.html 




Justice for Palestinians in the US




Justice and human rights should not be controversial issues. Certain truths are, one would expect, universal. After all, that was the point when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was so named. But the attempt to bring the issue of justice and human rights for the Palestinians into view of the American public has been mostly blocked. Having suffered for more than sixty years from discriminatory laws, occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing, justice for Palestinians continues to be an unreachable goal. In the US Americans have been denied the knowledge of the human rights abuses committed against the Palestinians and the voices of those who advocate for Palestinians continue to be drowned out by pro-Israel propagandists. Unless there is fair coverage in the media, the political institutions and the courts, justice will continue to be denied.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Justice-for-Palestinians-i-by-Sylvia-Schwarz-120922-250.html

US Juvenile Justice System Inhumane, Breeds More Crime

The report, based on more than 1,000 surveys with parents and family members of incarcerated youth, describes a juvenile criminal justice system that rips minors away from their homes to make them wards of the state, where they are often subjected to traumatizing physical and sexual abuse, discrimination and isolation.

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/us-juvenile-justice-system-inhumane-breeds-more-crime/

Democracy for Sale

Mitt's clandestine video grabbed all the attention this week, but money -- much of it dark -- rules both campaigns.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy-sale

Jesse Ventura on CNN Piers Morgan


The Fed: From "conspiracy theory" to common knowledge

What's the difference between this and how the Fed operates?

Tears of Gaza: The Movie

If Israel Prepares for Attack, Iran Will Strike Preemptively

Israeli rulers, Zionist fanatics’

Jesse Ventura Begins Process For Presidential Run In 2016

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What 100 years of voting looks like

Twitter Loses ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Case, Forced To Hand Over User Info

TPMIdeaLab

Occupy Wall Street protesters take to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Oct. 1, 2011.

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CARL FRANZEN JULY 2, 2012, 5:37 PM 10398 

Twitter lost a landmark court case on Monday after a New York judge ruled against the company’s attempt to avoid handing over information of one of its users, an “Occupy Wall Street” protester, to the Manhattan District Attorney.

“We are disappointed in the judge’s decision and are considering our options,” a Twitter spokesperson told TPM in a statement.

Twitter argued it shouldn’t have to comply with a subpoena from the Manhattan District Attorney to deliver user and “Occupy” protester Malcolm Harris’s information — including Harris’ email address and tweets — because doing so would place an undue burden on it and would force it to violate other U.S. privacy law, including the Stored Communications Act.

But New York County Criminal Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino disagreed with this rationale, overturning Twitter’s motion to quash the subpoena by explaining that that there was no expectation that tweets were private, in comparison with other electronic communications, including email, private chats and even private Twitter Direct Messages. As Sciarrino wrote in the ruling:

“If you post a tweet, just like if you scream it out the window, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. There is no proprietary interest in your tweets, which you have now gifted to the world. This is not the same as a private email, a private direct message, a private chat, or any of the other readily available ways to have a private conversation via the internet that now exist.”

The judge also turned Twitter’s own policies and businesses decisions against the company as rationale for upholding the subpoena, pointing out that Twitter in 2010 signed an agreement to allow the Library of Congress to keep an archive of all public tweets ever made on the service, using the information sharing as an example that Twitter itself didn’t consider the content private.

Further, the judge noted that Twitter altered its own terms of service in May 2012, well after the subpoena had been issued, to clarify that users own their own tweets and content posted on the website.

Finally, the jude acknowledged that the Founding Fathers would have loved Twitter and social media, but even they would not been protected from a subpoena of this nature:

“…it is probably safe to assume that Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson would have loved to tweet their opinions as much as they loved to write for the newspapers of their (sometimes under anonymous pseudonyms similar to today’s twitter user names). Those men, and countless soldiers in service to this nation, have risked their lives for our right to tweet or to post an article on Facebook; but that is not the same as arguing that those public tweets are protected.”

Under the new outcome, Twitter is ordered to hand over Harris’s information immediately. However, the judge did agree with Twitter on one thing: That a warrant is required to accessinformation older than 180 days old. Still, that means that the tweets that the Manhattan DA originally asked for are fair game.

The decision also upholds “third party doctrine,” the legal precedent that government and law enforcement agencies may ask third parties for user information without every alerting those users.

Twitter’s spokesperson disagreed with the judge’s decision, writing: “Twitter’s Terms of Service have long made it absolutely clear that its users *own* their content. We continue to have a steadfast commitment to our users and their rights.”

The Twitter user who’s information was at stake, Malcolm Harris, a writer and online satirist, was first subpoenaed after being among the 700 people arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge during an “Occupy Wall Street” protest in October 2011.

Like many of the protesters picked up by New York Police during the clash, Harris was charged with disorderly conduct and released.

But unlike most, the Manhattan DA wasn’t done with him, yet. The DA filed a subpoena on January 26 demanding that Twitter provide “[a]ny and all user information, including email address,” as all of Harris’s tweets from September 15, 2011 through December 30, 2011, which Harris made under the username “destructuremal.”

Under the same username, Harris was also the one responsible for starting the false rumor that Radiohead would play at the protesters’ encampment in Zucotti Park.

Tweeting from his new account, “BigMeanInternet,” on Monday, Harris reacted to the judge’s ruling, tweeting a response to a question from a Big Government journalist: “I ain’t done nuffin and the DA is a punk.”

The ACLU, which filed a brief on behalf of Twitter’s motion to quash the subpoena, was also dismayed with the ruling. As ACLU attorney Adam Fine said in a statement: “What is surprising is that the court continued to fail to grapple with one of the key issues underlying this case: do individuals give up their ability to go to court to try to protect their free speech and privacy rights when they use the Internet? As we explained in our brief, the answer has to be no.”

Twitter has previously consistently attempted to fight government and law enforcement requests for user information. A few minutes after the ruling in Harris’ case came down Monday, Twitter released its first-ever transparency report, revealing the number of requests for user information and content takedowns it received over the past year. The vast majority came from the U.S., where Twitter is proportionally most popular, according to third-party tracking firms. Twitter complied with 75 percent of requests for user information in the United States, according to its own report.

 Data, Lawsuits, Occupy Wall Street, Privacy, Twitter

CARL FRANZEN 

Carl Franzen is TPM Idea Lab's tech reporter. He used to work for The Daily, AOL and The Atlantic Wire (though not simultaneously, thankfully). He's never met a button that didn't need to be pressed. He can be reached at carl@talkingpointsmemo.com.

Goodbye Press Freedoms

More Journalists Arrested Covering Occupy, Occupy Tweets Subpoenaed

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Since the Occupy protests began, more and more members of the press have been arrested, harassed, or kept from covering evictions-- raising serious First Amendment alarm bells. Indeed, the US has plummeted to 47th in the world for press freedoms thanks to the law enforcement reaction to those who cover Occupy.

A new campaign from FreePress.net asks supporters to take a stand:

"So far more than 50 journalists, including eight last week, have been arrested in the U.S. while covering the Occupy Wall Street movement. Last Wednesday a documentary filmmaker was arrested for trying to film a congressional hearing; another had his footage erased by police."

And the insanity has even bled over into scrutiny of the tweets of occupiers and journalists.

Gawker reports that the Manhattan DA is actually subpoenaeing Tweets related to Occupy Wall Street in New York. Specifically,

On October 1st, [Malcolm] Harris was arrested along with 700 Occupy Wall Street protestors for blocking the Brooklyn Bridge and charged with disorderly conduct. Now, the Manhattan DA has subpoenaed "any and all user information, including email address, as well as any and all tweets posted" to his account, @destructuremal, from September 15th to December 31st, 2011. According to theNew York Times, the DA asked Twitter not to notify Harris but the company nicely did not comply.

When reached by phone today, Harris said he was baffled by the breadth of the material sought. The Occupy Wall Street protest didn't even start until September 17th....

"This is the legal equivalent of busting a party with loud noise and demanding my phone records for 3.5 months to see if I helped plan it," Harris tweeted recently.

Meanwhile, Occupy continues to plan, organize and debate.

By Sarah Seltzer | Sourced from AlterNet