DHS Seeking to Buy Access to Private Surveillance Cameras to Track Drivers

Cassius Methyl and Nick Bernabe

Despite the ongoing debate to roll back the Department of Homeland Security’s current civil liberties overreaches, the DHS is soliciting bids from corporations for access to license plate data collected by private surveillance systems. In a public statement, the Department said it’s “not seeking to build a national database or contribute data to an existing system,” rather, the DHS claims to be tapping into existing networks.

According to the Washington Post, the DHS “is seeking bids from companies that already gather the data to say how much they would charge to grant access to law enforcement officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS agency.”

Corporations Lobbying Government Reap 76,000% Return on Investment

Nick Bernabe

Forget the penny stocks, amateurs, the greatest investment you can make in America is bribing the government to give you political favors.

According to research conducted by The Sunshine Foundation, an organization focused on corporate and government accountability,

After examining million records, including data on campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures, federal budget allocations and spending, we found that, on average, for every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received $760 from the government. The $4.4 trillion total represents two-thirds of the $6.5 trillion that individual taxpayers paid into the federal treasury.

Demands to Shut Down Homan Square Grow, 1,500 Expected to Protest in Chicago Saturday

Nick Bernabe

Nationwide opposition to the Chicago Police’s secret detention facility known as Homan Square is growing rapidly.

It was revealed last week that the CPD is using CIA-like tactics on suspected criminals and American dissidents — denying them of due process and basic rights.

Since then, a massive movement to shut down Homan Square has grown online and in Chicago, as well as around the country.

‘Black Site’ Discovered in Chicago, So Where Else Are American Police Disappearing People?

Nick Bernabe

The Chicago Police Department has been caught denying Americans due process; disappearing, torturing, and even killing people in an ominous building called Homan Square.

Following a bombshell report published by The Guardian last Tuesday and subsequent reporting by independent media, Americans are up in arms over this facility.

Action Alert: Will We Allow the Chicago Police to Get Away With This?

Nick Bernabe

I guess that’s the biggest question so far in 2015: will we allow the Chicago Police Department get away with making people disappear without due process? Will a new standard be set in America where the basic protections (or what’s left of them) promised to us by the Bill Of Rights are completely gone?

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Chicago PD is literally snatching people off the streets, torturing and interrogating them, even killing at least one person, in a secret facility that is completely illegal. This horrible place is called Homan Square.

Activist Alert: Help Shutdown Chicago's Secret Detention Center

Nick Bernabe

Various activist groups and concerned citizens are coming together to oppose the Chicago Police’s secret torture detention center also known as Homan Square.

A bombshell report from The Guardian detailed Homan Square’s practices on Tuesday. We concluded from the report that,

Chicago Police are operating a secret detention facility that mirrors the CIA’s “black sites.” From violations of due process to torture, the revelations raise serious concerns about the deteriorating state of freedom and justice in the United States.

Cops Say Family Thanked Them For Beating and Arresting Them In Their Own Home

Nick Bernabe

Thankful residents of City Heights appreciated the kind gesture of cops invading their home for no reason, beating and then arresting family members — at least according to a July police report filed after the incident. The family was thankful for being framed for a crime they never committed.

The only problem with this “official story” is that it’s basically completely fabricated.

The Media Conveniently Focuses on Ferguson Looting Instead of Rampant Police State

And unfortunately a lot of people are falling right into this trap.

Nick Bernabe | The Anti-Media

Following what may be the greatest few weeks in decades of exposure to police brutality, police in Ferguson, Missouri, have now shot and killed an 18 year old unarmed teen who, according to witnesses, was holding his hands in the air when he was shot. Peaceful protests that began shortly after the shooting yesterday were met with full on military style anti-riot police.

What started as a peaceful protest soon turned into a small riot which resulted in some stores being looted and shots being fired at police.

While the riots will not help the cause, they are also not surprising considering the sharp uptick in anti-police sentiment stemming from the massive amount of police violence against the working poor and minorities in America. Police violence which is increasingly being captured on cell phone cameras and posted online daily. We have a whole section on the Police State on our website which can be viewed here.

US-Led Airstrikes Begin Against ISIS Militants in Iraq

Written by Nick Bernabe, Social Media Manager of Free and Equal, March Against Monsanto and Founder of The Anti-Media.

ISIS, now known as IS or the Islamic State, has been sweeping across wide swaths of Iraq and Syria; reportedly slaughtering civilians, Shi’ite Muslims, and other non-Sunni people living in occupied areas. The latest in this string of violence includes up to 40,000 people trapped on Mount Sinjar, surrounded by IS militants, facing death by execution or dehydration.

While the rise of the Islamic State has been blamed on al-Maliki’s Shi’ite dominated government, the Iraqi regime has made no real concessions to appease Iraqi Sunni concerns about being excluded from representation, which has enabled IS’ rapid conquest of the area.