23 Sep 2015

Rumors Persist That The CIA Helps Export Opium From Afghanistan

Despite billions spent to eradicate opium crops in Afghanistan, the crop is more popular than ever there, leading many to wonder whether some U.S. forces may actually be encouraging its growth and the heroin it later becomes.

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22 Sep 2015

Inspector General Urged To Investigate Justice Department For Ignoring CIA Torture

Amnesty International USA urged the inspector general for the Justice Department to investigate why the department has failed to examine human rights violations documented in the Senate report on CIA torture. In a letter dated September 21, AIUSA alleges the Justice Department failed to review evidence regarding the department’s role in human rights violations, which were committed by the CIA.

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22 Sep 2015

New York City Council Adopts Eight Bills For Transparency, Oversight Of Jails

Last week, the New York City Council sent eight bills to Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s desk aimed at bringing greater transparency to the city’s jails. The wave of legislation was introduced this past spring and its passage marks the latest efforts by the city to reign in the brutal culture of violence and impunity that has reigned inside its jails for years.

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22 Sep 2015

Volkswagen Emission Scandal May Lead To Industry-Wide Probe

German automaker Volkswagen has now admitted to installing software in its vehicles to cheat US pollution admission tests and has claimed that 11 million of its cars worldwide contain the software. The company announced it would set aside $7.3 billion to pay the costs of fixing the cars so they can actually pass an emissions test.

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22 Sep 2015

#YouStink: Lebanese Rise Up Against The Capitalist Dream Of Privatization

“Lebanon is brutally capitalist in its structures … all public infrastructures are run privately,” one analyst tells MintPress. “And so what you see today as a ‘revolution’ against the establishment is really a denunciation of Western capitalism.”

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21 Sep 2015

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21 Sep 2015

Released Guantanamo Prisoner Experienced Terror On Flight To Morocco

A Moroccan released from Guantanamo Bay prison was blindfolded and shackled during his flight to Morocco, where he remains in detention, according to his attorney. Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri, who was detained for 13 years, was repatriated to Morocco last week. Moroccan authorities did not immediately release him.

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21 Sep 2015

SEC Commissioner’s Husband Caught Marketing Influence

The law firm that employs John W. White, husband of Mary Jo White, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has changed its marketing material after being scrutinized for the way the firm advertised its connections to regulators. The firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, was trumpeting John White’s work for an advisory group to the influential Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) just as Mary Jo White, in her capacity as SEC chair, is considering candidates to lead the PCAOB.

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21 Sep 2015

Bernie Sanders’ Private Prison Reform Bill Would Leave Opportunities For Industry To Grow

Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has introduced legislation to abolish aspects of the prison industrial-complex. However, despite being touted as a private prison abolition bill, it would still leave some areas of corrections open to contractors. On September 17, Sanders joined Representatives Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)

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21 Sep 2015

DEA Chief Admits Marijuana Is Less Dangerous Than Heroin, But Won’t Reschedule

Despite ample evidence pointing to the therapeutic, non-addictive qualities of marijuana, the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency wants to keep it legally classified alongside heroin and other highly addictive substances. “If we come up with a medical use for it, that would be wonderful. But we haven’t,” declared Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, in an interview with Fox News.

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