For years, the US has engaged in a counter-terrorism strategy in Yemen involving aggressive drone strikes and the donation of over $500 million in weapons and equipment to Yemen’s US-backed government. However, these moves aimed at defeating al-Qaeda in Yemen have produced an array of unintended consequences, which appear to be spiraling out of control.

First, local anxiety over US drone strikes led to a January 2015 uprising by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who toppled Yemen’s government suddenly, taking US officials by surprise. The fall of Yemen has been compared to ISIS’ taking of Mosul in that, in both cases, US-trained-and-funded soldiers refused to fight as rebels launched their attacks. Additionally, al-Qaeda has reportedly seized some of the collapsed Yemeni government’s bases. In February, the US closed its embassy in Yemen, and rebels stole vehicles that were left behind during the evacuation.

More...http://benswann.com/after-fall-of-yemen-us-officials-fear-terrorists-have-seized-500-million-in-us-donated-weapons/

And this is just another 'unintended consequence' of the neocon foreign policy of interventionism abroad.

Hudak said Republicans, who have mostly scaled back their opposition to legalization in the states, "are doing something they are usually terrible at — looking down the road at the demographic landscape and adjusting their policies accordingly."

"They're not doing it on same-sex marriage effectively, they're not doing it on health care effectively, they're not doing it on a lot of social issues effectively," he said, "but it looks like they're starting to see the light on legalization."

Better late than never. In 2016, young voters who overwhelming support marijuana legalization are expected to return to the polls after their traditional midterm no-show in 2014.

"They're sort of self-reinforcing forces in the electorate that create a really positive recipe to assist legalization advocates," Hudak said. "It's a hot issue. For a candidate, you talk about it and it makes waves."

More including candidate profiles...http://mic.com/articles/112066/the-pot-primary-which-republican-candidates-would-be-best-on-marijuana

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to form a presidential exploratory committee.
"I am the only one who can make America truly great again," the Republican businessman and reality television star declared in a statement announcing the move.

While a step short of a formal campaign launch, the formation of an exploratory allows him to begin raising money and hire staff as he weighs a White House bid. Trump said he's already hired political aides in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which host the first three contests on the presidential nominating calendar.

"I have a great love for our country, but it is a country that is in serious trouble," Trump said in a wide-ranging statement that called for rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, improving border security, strengthening the military and improving the economy. "Americans deserve better than what they get from their politicians who are all talk and no action."

More...http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150318/us-gop-2016-trump-e7bf9e5ef6.html

The Republican House Budget Committee just released its plan for how to balance the budget. One little catch is that the proposal talks only of the possibility of this happening in 10 years. The Democrats, they complain, don’t even try to balance the budget. Well, at least they’re more honest about it. It used to be that we looked at five-year plans in the socialist systems, but here we are facing a conservative proposal to “maybe” balance the budget in 10 years.

This achievement will occur, they claim, without raising taxes. But everybody knows Republicans are just as capable of raising taxes as are the Democrats. They are certainly not bashful about increasing spending. However this budget report claims that they can cut $5.5 trillion in spending — a more aggressive goal than they have ever before proposed. They emphasize a fairer and a simpler tax system to promote job creation and a healthy economy, which I think is nothing more than wishful thinking.

The claim is also made that the country will be put on a path to “paying off the debt by growing the economy and making government more efficient, effective, and accountable.” The claim that has been made by conservatives over many decades has always been that all we need to do is lower the rate of taxes and get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse and the economy will thrive and the debt will go down. There’s never a suggestion that it is necessary to achieve limited government or that policies have to change, such as our attitude toward the welfare state and certainly the warfare state.

The new proposal calls on Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. That suggestion has been around for a long time. And what makes us believe that if it’s in the Constitution that the budget should be balanced, it would actually occur? From my experience, the Constitution is not held in high regard in Washington—to say the least. There are too many loopholes, and too many off-budget programs that can be relied on. All we have to do is look at the recent history of the bailouts that occurred off-budget in the crisis of 2008-2009. Are they really going to be able to control the spending that the Federal Reserve participates in? I don’t believe too many Americans actually believe that’s a possibility. And the majority of Americans today want a much more thorough understanding of the Federal Reserve, with a growing number calling for complete repeal of the Federal Reserve Act.

...

More...http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/march/17/republican-balanced-budget-boosts-military-spending/

President Obama gave support to mandatory voting today at a town hall event in Cleveland. The President claims the drastic move would reduce the importance of money in elections and stop alleged voter suppression.

The Washington Times reports on the President’s claim that mandatory voting would change everything:

“It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract [campaign] money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country.”

I wonder what the penalty would be for failing to vote?

More...http://www.ijreview.com/2015/03/274408-obamas-solution-money-politics-completely-change-political-map/

Well, we all know those that don't vote, by and large, are the most intelligent in the populace rather than the other way around. Good move and idea by Prez Zero as it can only benefit the democrat party since the majority of boobs that don't vote, get their 'news' from the free msm stations. It's not likely gonna happen but even if not, you see the genius of where this concept will fall in favor of..

[New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law yesterday that represents an important first step towards blocking federal programs that militarize local police in the state.]

TRENTON, N.J. (March 18, 2015) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law yesterday that represents an important first step towards blocking federal programs that militarize local police in the state.

Informally known as the 1033 Program, the Pentagon provides local law enforcement, at little or no upfront cost, surplus federal property, including aircraft, armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and night vision equipment originally intended for use by the United States Armed Forces without even obtaining approval of the local governing body.

Introduced by Sen. Nia Gill, Senate Bill 2364 (S2364) flips this process around, banning local law enforcement agencies from obtaining this equipment without first getting approval from their local government. Currently, these military transfers happen directly between the feds and local police, as if they make up part of the same government. This law interposes the local government in the process, giving the people of New Jersey the power to end it, and at the least, forcing the process into the open.

S2364 passed the Senate by a vote of 36-0 concurred by a vote of 70-0. With Christie’s signature, it’s the first state law of its kind directly addressing the endless flow of military equipment to state and local police.

EFFECT

Almost 13,000 agencies in all 50 states and four U.S. territories participate in the military “recycling” program, and the share of equipment and weaponry gifted each year continues to expand. In 2011, $500 million worth of military equipment was distributed to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. That number jumped to $546 million in 2012.

Since 1990, $4.2 billion worth of equipment has been transferred from the Defense Department to domestic police agencies through the 1033 program, in addition to various other programs supposedly aimed at fighting the so-called War on Drugs and War on Terror.

According to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, the Office of Emergency Management assisted with the transfer of over $30 million in excess Department of Defense property to New Jersey law enforcement agencies since the beginning of federal fiscal year 2014.

S2364 wouldn’t put an end to the militarization of New Jersey law enforcement, but is does it create a mechanism for local communities to stop the free-flowing tide of equipment. Citizens now have the power and forum to pressure their elected officials at a city or county level to vote against such acquisitions or face the consequences come the next election.The new law also creates an environment of transparency that didn’t exist before.

More...http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2015/03/first-in-the-country-new-jersey-law-a-first-step-to-stop-federal-militarization-of-local-police/

NJ has terrible gun laws and ridiculous taxes and Christie pretty much sucks as governor which is why I'm puzzled that he signed this. He's pro-NSA spying, war hawkish and surveillance state in general which usually doesn't jive with considering to demilitarize the police.

[RUSSIA: NORTH KOREAN LEADER TO VISIT MOSCOW FOR VICTORY DAY]

RUSSIA: NORTH KOREAN LEADER TO VISIT MOSCOW FOR VICTORY DAY

MOSCOW (AP) -- The leader of North Korea is among 26 world leaders who have accepted invitations to Moscow to take part in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

North Korea hasn't officially commented. It would be Kim Jong Un's first foreign trip since taking power three years ago.

The highlight of the May 9 celebrations will be a military parade on the Red Square overseen by President Vladimir Putin, an annual event that will be expanded this year to include 15,000 troops, cadets and Cossacks, according to Russia's defense minister.

Several Western leaders have snubbed invitations to the military parade because of Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict. But Lavrov said that some European leaders were still expected to come, including those from Slovakia, Norway, Greece and several Balkan nations.

More...http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_VICTORY_DAY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-17-10-29-35

I wonder what Kimmy is poised to get out of Russia at this point? This is his first quest outside of the shitland so I'm very interested in this push.

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney doesn't mince words when it comes to President Barack Obama.

In a new interview for the April issue of Playboy, Cheney repeatedly tore into Obama on a wide array of issues, including the racially charged riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and foreign policy.

"I look at Barack Obama and I see the worst president of my lifetime, without question," Cheney told journalist James Rosen. "I used to have significant criticism of Jimmy Carter, but compared to Barack Obama and the damage he is doing to the nation—it’s a tragedy."

More...http://www.businessinsider.com/dick-cheney-just-accused-obama-of-playing-the-race-card--in-a-playboy-interview-2015-3

First off, Cheney should not be talked about in Playboy mag as that would be horrible for sales, you'd think - could be wrong. 2ndly, Cheney blaming Obama of going race cardy shows that Dick has little to no substance.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory after a tight national election appeared to give him the upper hand in forming the country's next coalition government.

In a statement released on Twitter, Netanyahu says that "against all odds" his Likud party and the nationalist camp secured a "great victory."

Initial exit polls showed Netanyahu's Likud Party deadlocked with the center-left Zionist Union.

But the results indicated that Netanyahu will have an easier time cobbling together a majority coalition with hard-line and religious allies.

Netanyahu said he had already begun to call potential partners.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150317/ml--israel-election-e781dbaf33.html

The American Empire has been long in the making. A green light was given in 1990 to finalize that goal. Dramatic events occurred that year that allowed the promoters of the American Empire to cheer. It also ushered in the current 25-year war to solidify the power necessary to manage a world empire. Most people in the world now recognize this fact and assume that the empire is here to stay for a long time. That remains to be seen.

Empires come and go. Some pop up quickly and disappear in the same manner. Others take many years to develop and sometimes many years to totally disintegrate. The old empires, like the Greek, Roman, Spanish and many others took many years to build and many years to disappear. The Soviet Empire was one that came rather quickly and dissipated swiftly after a relatively short period of time. The communist ideology took many decades to foment the agitation necessary for the people to tolerate that system.

Since 1990 the United States has had to fight many battles to convince the world that it was the only military and economic force to contend with. Most people are now convinced and are easily intimidated by our domination worldwide with the use of military force and economic sanctions on which we generously rely. Though on the short term this seems to many, and especially for the neoconservatives, that our power cannot be challenged. What is so often forgotten is that while most countries will yield to our threats and intimidation, along the way many enemies were created.

By Ron Paul

More...https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/03/ron-paul/one-people-one-world-one-government/

Obama wants to control the local police.

Obama’s Department of Justice announced last week the six cities that will serve as national pilot sites of a $4.7 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. The six cities are Ft. Worth, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Stockton, Birmingham and Gary, Indiana.

Attorney General Eric Holder described the initiative as a partnership between federal officials and criminal justice experts providing training, policy and research to address distrust between citizens and law enforcement.

Birmingham officials expressed delight in the takeover. “We are truly honored that DOJ would select Birmingham as one of six national pilot sites,” said Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper.

More...http://conservativetribune.com/feds-take-over-local-police/

No licenses and no permits to carry openly or concealed/ - foreigners must be in disbelief.

West Virginia, the state that Lincoln seceded from Virginia in 1864, is the fifth that has passed this sort of thing.

Lawmakers in West Virginia are delivering to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin legislation that will expand access to National Firearms Act-controlled items and grant concealed carry without a permit.

The two measures have tracked through the state legislature by wide margins with the shall-sign measure unanimously approved in both chambers while the proposal to allow permitless concealed carry passed Thursday 79-21 in the state House after the Senate polled 32-2 for it last week.

“We’re here to protect our people from big government,” said Delegate Michael Ihle, R-Jackson, of the carry bill before yesterday’s vote. “This is a step in the right direction. It’s not perfect, but it gets us much closer on the 2nd Amendment to doing what’s right.”
The legislation, SB 347, would repeal language in the current state code that makes it illegal to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

As long as the individual is legally able to possess a firearm under state and federal laws, they may carry a concealed pistol or revolver for self-defense purposes. This would include carrying while hiking or hunting, or while traveling in a motor vehicle, or in public. However, with or without a permit, carry would still be prohibited on certain public properties such as the state Capitol, courthouses, public schools and colleges.

Currently, the practice outlined in the bill, commonly known as constitutional carry, is the law of the land in Vermont, Arizona, Alaska and Wyoming.

The proposal was panned by the West Virginia Sheriff’s Association, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D), a number of currently sitting mayors in the state, as well as national gun control groups who argued the $100 fee, training and vetting requirements now in place are there for a reason.

“The current license requirements in West Virginia include things like undergoing basic training on how to handle and fire a gun, passing a criminal background check, and other reasonable safeguards,” Dee Price Childress, with the West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement. “If a person wants to carry a loaded, concealed handgun in public they should be required to demonstrate they have a clean criminal record and have been trained to carry a gun safely.”

http://www.guns.com/2015/03/13/west-virginia-sends-shall-sign-constitutional-carry-bills-to-governor/

As the European Coal and Steel Community of Jean Monnet evolved into the EU, we were told a “United States of Europe” was at hand, modeled on the USA. And other countries and continents will inevitably follow Europe’s example.

There will be a North American Union of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and a Latin America Union of the Mercosur trade partnership.

In an essay, “The E.U. Experiment Has Failed,” Bruce Thornton of Hoover Institution makes the case that the verdict is in, the dream is dead, the EU is unraveling, One Europe is finished.

Consider, first, economics. In 2013, Europe grew by 1 percent compared to the U.S.’s 2.2 percent. In December, unemployment in Europe was 11.4 percent. In the U.S., 5.6 percent. Americans are alarmed by the lowest labor force participation rate since Reagan, 62.7 percent. In Europe, in 2013, it was 57.5 percent.

Europeans may wail over German-imposed “austerity,” but the government share of Europe’s GDP has gone from 45 percent in 2008 to 49 percent today. In Greece, it is 59 percent.

Most critical is the demographic crisis. For a nation to survive, its women must produce on average 2.1 children. Europe has not seen that high a fertility rate in 40 years. Today, it is down to 1.6 children.

Europeans are an aging, shrinking, disappearing, dying race.

And the places of Europe’s unborn are being filled by growing “concentrations of unassimilated and disaffected Muslim immigrants, segregated in neighborhoods like the banlieues of Paris or the satellite ‘dish cities’ of Amsterdam.

“Shut out from labor markets, plied with generous social welfare payments and allowed to cultivate beliefs and cultural practices inimical to democracy, many of these immigrants despise their new homes, and find the religious commitment and certainty of radical Islam an attractive alternative.”

More...https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/03/patrick-j-buchanan/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish/

Gentleman, start your engines!

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia was ready to bring its nuclear weapons into a state of alert during last year's tensions over the Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of Ukraine's president, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired on Sunday.

Putin also expanded on a previous admission that the well-armed forces in unmarked uniforms who took control of Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea were Russian soldiers.

Putin's comments, in a documentary being shown on state TV, highlight the extent to which alarm spread in Russia in the weeks following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 after months of street protests that turned increasingly violent.

After Yanukovych fled Kiev, eventually surfacing in Russia, separatist sentiment soared in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula dominated by ethnic Russians.

Russian forces took control of Ukrainian military facilities on the peninsula and a referendum on secession was hastily called. The referendum, which was widely denounced in the West as illegitimate, reportedly brought overwhelming support for secession. Russia annexed Crimea on March 19, 2014.

More...http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150315/eu-russia-crimea-2859701388.html

AUSTIN – In a not-too-far-future, robotic mind-clones will accompany us to the ballot box or grocery store, sit in on business meetings we can't make, argue with us occasionally and keep our essence alive long after we're gone.

That's the vision pharma tycoon and futurist Martine Rothblatt shared Sunday with several thousand attendees during one of the more popular events of Day 3 of SXSW Interactive.

"There will be continued advances in software that we see throughout our entire life," Rothblatt told a packed audience in the cavernous Exhibit Hall 5 during her keynote speech. "Eventually, these advances in software will rise to the level of consciousness."

Rothblatt is the founder of Sirius Satellite Radio, current chief executive of United Therapeutics and was recently named by Forbes as the highest-paid female CEO in America. She is a transgender activist and a trans-humanist philosopher who believes technology will one day grant humans eternal life.

More...http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/03/15/sxsw-rothblatt-cyber-clones-keynote/24816839/

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted overwhelmingly to advance a cybersecurity bill meant to expand information-sharing between the private sector and the government, though privacy advocates contend it only strengthens domestic surveillance programs.

Dubbed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), the bill cleared the Senate Intelligence Committee by a 14-1 vote, with outspoken civil liberties advocate Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) casting the lone vote against the proposal. It’s not clear when the bill will come up for a full vote in the Senate, but it could happen as soon as April.

If passed into law, CISA would implement further protections for companies to gather threat-related data from their customers and allow them to share that information directly with federal intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency.

Ever since hackers breached Sony’s internal networks last year, encouraging information-sharing between corporations and the government has become a top priority. Supporters say the bill would allow the two sides to better coordinate, detect and potentially stop cyber threats before they cause serious damage.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) acknowledged that the bill “will not prevent [all cyber attacks] from happening,” according to the National Journal, but added that it’s an important step that would improve security.

However, privacy and civil liberties advocates have railed against the bill since its inception, arguing that without reforming and scaling back the NSA’s current domestic surveillance program, CISA would only expand the breadth and power of its spying activities.

...

More...http://rt.com/usa/240269-senate-cisa-cybersecurity-bill-advances/

[The projected financial obligations are also known as “unfunded liabilities” such as future Social Security payouts. At $210 trillion, the U.S.’s fiscal gap is higher than many of the world’s economic basket cases.]

Esteemed economist Larry Kotlikoff warned the Senate Budget Committee last month that Greece is more solvent than the United States.

Kotlikoff identified the “fiscal gap” as the most important and telling measurement for gauging the health of an economy. The fiscal gap is “the difference between our government’s projected financial obligations and the present value of all projected future tax and other receipts.” The projected financial obligations are also known as “unfunded liabilities” such as future Social Security payouts. At $210 trillion, the U.S.’s fiscal gap is higher than many of the world’s economic basket cases.


Kotlikoff furthered: “The first point I want to get across is that our nation is broke. Our nation’s broke, and it’s not broke in 75 years or 50 years or 25 years or 10 years. It’s broke today. Indeed, it may well be in worse fiscal shape than any developed country, including Greece…”
Broke? Well, how did the U.S. essentially bankrupt itself? In short, politics and normalcy bias.


Explains economist Gary North (covering Kotlikoff’s address):
“I suspect, most Congressmen really don’t understand it (the fiscal gap). They have been able to kick the can, decade after decade, and they assume that they will be able to do this in the future. Nothing bad has happened so far, so they assume that nothing bad will ever happen… Congress doesn’t care. The President doesn’t care. The AARP doesn’t care. The voters don’t care. Investors in Treasury bonds don’t care. It is all distant. Anything that is beyond two years out is not considered an important factor. The attention span of the public is short. The attention span of the media is short. Anything longer than the next Congressional election is considered long-term. Politicians don’t care about the long-term. They care about getting reelected. A budgetary strategy of hiking taxes and reducing benefits is a sure-fire way not to get re-elected.”

Thinking the implications through, the point must be made that the reason the U.S.’s essential bankruptcy is not yet as visible as Detroit’s – or Greece’s — is because the Federal Reserve “prints” dollars out of thin air, which allows the federal government to keep borrowing and spending. This cannot go on in perpetuity.


The rest of the world has been waking up to this fact. China has been making a push to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency for some time. And even “allies” like the UK are beginning to comprehend which way the wind is blowing. According to Financial Times, the UK has decided to become the first G7 nation to join China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This has riled the U.S.: “The Obama administration accused the UK of a ‘constant accommodation’ of China after Britain decided to join a new China-led financial institution that could rival the World Bank.”

http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/the-fiscal-gap-why-were-the-most-insolvent-of-developed-nations/

Stirred by the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, a determined band of hackers, IT bloggers, and systems analysts have trained their specialized talents and state-of-the-art software on clintonemail.com, the domain under which Clinton established multiple private email accounts, and uncovered serious lapses in security, according to data shared with Fox News.

The findings call into question Clinton’s confident declaration, at a hastily arranged news conference in New York on Tuesday, that “there were no security breaches” in her use of a private server. One prominent figure in the hacker community, bolstered by long experience in the U.S. intelligence community, has undertaken to build a virtual “replica” of Clinton’s server configuration in a cyberlab, and has begun testing it with tools designed to probe security defenses. This individual has shared details of the Clinton system not disclosed publicly but legally obtainable.

Among other things, outside experts have managed to trace the most recent location of Clinton’s server – something she did not specify during her news conference and a subject of much speculation, as the server’s physical placement would provide early clues about whether the data stored on it was adequately secured against compromise by private-sector hackers and foreign intelligence services.

Fox News has previously reported that, with the aid of software named Maltego, experts had established that the server is up and running, receiving connectivity to the Internet through an Atlanta-based firm called Internap Network Services Corporation. Clinton’s stern insistence at her news conference that her server “will remain private” would appear to rest, then, at least in part, on the inviolability of Internap.

Now, working with publicly available tools that map network connectivity, experts have established that the last “hop” before the mail server’s Internet Protocol, or IP, address (listed as 64.94.172.146) is Internap’s aggregator in Manhattan (listed as 216.52.95.10).

“This is a very strong indication that the clintonemail.com server is in Manhattan,” the source told Fox News.

By entering the IP address for the Internap aggregator into existing databases, the experts obtained the exact geolocation coordinates for the aggregator – revealed to be on lower Broadway, at the intersection with Chambers Street, some two blocks north of City Hall. This in turn suggests that the Clinton server itself lies within close proximity – most likely former President Clinton’s Harlem office, and not as far away as the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, N.Y.

More...http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/12/hackers-probing-clinton-server-cite-security-lapses/

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, I want to turn to comments made by Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton, the senator who spearheaded the letter to Iran. Just weeks into his first term in the Senate, he warned against a nuclear deal with Iran while speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.


SEN. TOM COTTON: First, the goal of our policy must be clear: regime change in Iran. We cannot and will not be safe as long as Islamist despots rule in Iran. The policy of the United States should therefore be to support regime opponents and promote a constitutional government at peace with the United States, Israel and the world. The United States should cease all appeasement, conciliation and concessions towards Iran, starting with the sham nuclear negotiations. Certain voices call for congressional restraint, urging Congress not to act now, lest Iran walk away from the negotiating table, undermining the fabled yet always absent moderates in Iran. But the end of these negotiations isn’t an unintended consequence of congressional action. It is very much an intended consequence, a feature, not a bug, so to speak. Third, congressional actions should start with crippling new sanctions against Iran. These sanctions should be immediate. They should not be contingent on further negotiations with Iran. On the contrary, Iran is achieving, through slow motion, all that it might want in a final deal, exploiting the Obama administration’s desperation to keep the negotiations alive and for a deal, any deal. It’s time for the responsible adults in both parties of Congress to stop this farce.

More...http://www.democracynow.org/2015/3/12/ex_us_official_with_iran_letter

There are currently 2.4 million people in American prisons. This number has grown by 500% in the past 30 years. While the United States has only 5% of the world's population, it holds 25 percent of the world's total prisoners. In 2012, one in every 108 adults was in prison or in jail, and one in 28 children in the U.S. had a parent behind bars.

Why do we have so many people in prison?

Money is a huge reason we have so many prisoners.

Several corporations make huge profits off prisons. It costs an average of $23,876 annually to house a state prisoner for a year. To save money, cash-strapped states (aka, us, the taxpayers) pay companies to deal with their prisoners. Companies make money by running prisons as cheaply as possible and squeezing the prisoners and their families for money for basic necessities and fees. As a result, private prisons are a $70 billion industry.

Even crazier, 65 percent of private prison contracts require an occupancy guarantee. That means states must have a certain amount of prisoners -- typically between 80 and 90 percent of occupancy -- or pay companies for empty beds. Talk about bad incentives -- a state throws money away if it does not have enough prisoners./quote]

http://www.attn.com/stories/941/who-profits-from-prisoners?utm_source=social&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=usu