Andre Vltchek Counterpunch
This report is dedicated to Serena Shim. Because both of us, had been covering an almost identical story. Because she is dead and I am still alive. Because she was brave. Because even as she was being threatened, and scared, she did not stop her dedicated quest for the truth, and as long as people like her live, work, struggle and die for our humanity, all is not lost, yet! (more…)
Marjorie Cohn Truthout
In a normal grand jury proceeding, the prosecutor presents evidence for a few days and then asks the grand jurors to return an indictment, which they nearly always do. Of 162,000 federal cases in 2010, grand juries failed to indict in only 11 of them, according the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (more…)
Wired
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would shut off the water spigot to the massive data center operated by the National Security Agency in Bluffdale, Utah. (more…)
A judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, has unsealed a set of 529 court documents in hundreds of criminal cases detailing the use of a stingray, or cell-site simulator, by local police. This move, which took place earlier this week, marks a rare example of a court opening up a vast trove of applications made by police to a judge, who authorized each use of the powerful and potentially invasive device. (more…)
LONDON (AP) – Freelance video journalist Jason Parkinson returned home from vacation this year to find a brown paper envelope in his mailbox. He opened it to find nine years of his life laid out in shocking detail. (more…)
New York Times investigative reporter, James Risen, has released his latest investigation into the hidden costs of the war on terror. (more…)
A breath of fresh air (video 6 mins.): Ursula K. Le Guin
Rawstory
A bare 0.004 percent of the world’s adult population controls nearly $30 trillion in assets, 13 percent of the world’s total wealth, according to a new study released Thursday. (more…)