Many shitty things happen in the United States. This is my personal collection of primary and secondary sources documenting this shit.
This list is very incomplete. If you want to contribute (by fixing an error or adding new sources), please create an issue or a pull request.
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Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee often don't know about espionage programs until news outlets break the story. For example:
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The Senate Intelligence Committee didn't know about the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping which began in 2001 until the NY Times reported the story in 2005. Source: The Atlantic
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Former CIA Director Leon Panetta describes being summoned to a White House meeting and cussed out by President Obama’s chief of staff after he agreed to give the Senate intelligence committee access to documents chronicling the agency’s use of torture during the Bush administration. Source: First Look
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Major technology companies repeatedly take stances against government surveillance. For example:
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Twitter moves data servers from the US to Iceland so they don't have to comply with US secret warrants. Source: Beta News
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After Google discovered that the NSA had wiretaps on the connections between Google data centers, Google began encrypting the communication to prevent eavesdropping. Source: ZDNet
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The NSA's PRISM program collects information on users of major internet companies. Yahoo didn't want to implement the program, but the US government threatened Yahoo with a $250 thousand daily fine if they didn't implement it. Source: Ars Technica
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Court rules the NSA spying program illegal under the Patriot Act. Source: CNN, The Guardian
Obama administration lawyers appeal to the secret FISA court to keep the programs running. Source: The Guardian
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Our spy agencies (which are under the executive branch) spy on members of Congress. For example:
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When Senator Feinstein (D-CA) was investigating the CIA for abusing detainees, CIA operatives spied on her staff members and secretly deleted documents from their computers. Source: The NYTimes
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There is strong evidence that in 2004, Attorney General Gabriel Gonzales used information gathered from an NSA wiretap to blackmail Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) into supporting the illegal wiretap program. Source: The Atlantic
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The CIA had a propaganda campaign which involved leaking classified information to sell torture. Source: Fire Dog Lake
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The NSA has requested to secretly modify court documents. Source: Yahoo News
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The FBI and NSA track Muslim leaders. Source: First Look
This is reminiscent of how the FBI tracked civil rights activists in the 1960s. Source: The Guardian
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The Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper told Congress in 2013 that the government does not collect information on millions of Americans. Snowden documents show that Clapper lied to Congress. Clapper is never charged with a crime, and his lawyer claims that he "forgot" the NSA did this. Source: The Hill
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FBI Director Jim Comey claimed that the FBI does not engage in surveillance by reading emails without a court order. This is false. Source: Tech Dirt
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Senator Feinstein (D-CA) accused the CIA of spying on her staff members because they were investigating abuses in the CIA's enhanced interrogation program. CIA director John Brennan denied the spying, saying "Nothing could be further from the truth." Source: The NYTimes wherein Brennan denies the espionage and a follow up NYTimes article revealing that the CIA did it
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The NSA claimed that low-level staff like Edward Snowden wouldn't have access to the raw data of intercepts. This is wrong. Source: Mother Jones
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The Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court about their surveillance programs. This caused the Supreme Court to dismiss the case. Snowden's released documents show that the Justice Department lied. Source: The Guardian
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The NSA used to claim that they do not engage in industrial espionage. Snowden documents, however, reveal that they do. Source: The Intercept
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NSA stole the encryption keys used in cellphone SIM cards. Source: The Intercept
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The NSA hides survellance software in harddrives. Source: Engadget
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The NSA can covertly turn on microphones and cameras in laptops and cellphones without the user being aware. Source: PureVPN
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NSA places hardware bugs in American products. Source: CBC
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The FBI keeps facial recognition databases. Source: NextGov, TechDirt
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Local police forces can intercept arbitrary cell phone calls using the StingRay. This device creates fake cell towers for phones to connect to. The Baltimore police department, for example, has used this capability more than 4,300 times. The department can use the devices without court authorization. Source: The Baltimore Sun
- The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) lets law enforcement read any emails without a warrant or probable cause. The only requirement is the email be older than 180 days. Source: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The McClatchy DC
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Many academic security researchers have spoken out against the NSA. See for example this open letter published in the ACM.
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President Jimmy Carter says surveillance has "gone too far". Source: Huffington Post
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Former NSA Chief calls NSA data sharing program the "biggest threat since the civil war." Source: The Tenth Amendment Center
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The Congressman Michael Burgess (R-Tex) was a strong supporter of the Patriot Act when it first came out in 2001. He credits the Snowden leaks with making him dislike the Patriot Act. Source: The Intercept
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The American Library Association has a policy against recording what books patrons checkout due to the potential for the information's abuse. Source: The Washington Post
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The US Government claims Snowden should have used "proper channels" to get abuses fixed. But Snowden claims to have submitted written complaints to the administration that were ignored. Source: NBC Video contains long interview, and Wired which has Snowden's first emails to reporters claiming that he is contacting them because official channels didn't work.
The NSA denies these claims. Source: The Hill
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Many news commentators and high level government staff say Snowden should come back to the US and face trial. If Snowden were to come back to the US for a trial, however, national security laws would prevent him from offering any evidence in his own defense. Source: The Guardian
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In a video interview, Snowden says: "If I end up in chains in Guantanamo, I can live with that." Source: The Guardian
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The film Citizenfour about Snowden's disclosures wins the best Oscar for best documentary feature. Source: The Verge. You can download the film by going to http://cryptome.org. Search for the string Citizenfour.
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Snowden conducted an Ask me Anything (AMA) on reddit.
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Snoden currently has a 3 year residence permit to live in Russia. Before moving to Russia, Snowden sought asylum in 21 other countries. But due to US pressure, these countries refused to grant him asylum.
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video John Oliver interviews Snowden.
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CIA employee Scudder encounters documents he believed the public needed to know about. He files a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get them released. Scudder claims that this ended his career. Source: The Chicago Tribune
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At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US according to whistleblower William Binney. Source: The Guardian, RT
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The legal reporting website http://groklaw.net shuts down after the extent of NSA spying is revealed. The stated reason is that they can no longer ensure the safety of their sources. Source: The Guardian
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LavaBit is a secure email service. All of the stored emails are encrypted, so it's not physically possible for anyone (even the service's operators) to read the email. The FBI used national security letters to shut down this business. Source: The Guardian
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The United States does not participate in many international treaties on the conduct of warfare. For example:
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Cluster munitions are a particularly dangerous form of weapon for civilians. Approximately 5% of the bomblets do not explode on impact. Civilians can later discover the unexploded ordinance and accidentally cause it to explode. The United States has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and used cluster munitions extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty would prevent countries from performing nuclear weapons tests. The US has signed the treaty, but congress refused to ratify it.
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In 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) tried to audit the US military spending. They found that the finances were so mismanaged that an audit wasn't even possible. Source: The GAO
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The US spends more on the military than the next seven countries combined. Source: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation
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The US Navy is designing the SSBNX submarine designed for the sole purpose of launching nuclear missiles. Currently the Navy is requesting 14 of these subs be built. The estimated lifetime cost for the subs is $347 billion over the course of 40 years. For comparison, the cost of tuition at the University of California is $53 thousand dollars for a four year bachelors degree. The money we're spending on submarines to launch nuclear missiles could buy over 6 million free college educations. Source: The Arms Control Association
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As of 2015, the Iraq Body Count has recorded more than 140,000 violent civilian deaths in Iraq as a result of the invasion. In an initial report covering the first two years of the war, the IBC reports that US air strikes caused the largest share of civilian casualties at 37%. Many analysts debate these numbers, saying they are either too small or too large. Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of the various body counts and their methodology.
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In 2004, the US bombed a wedding party in Mukaradeeb, Iraq. 42 civilians were killed. Again in 2008, the US bombed a wedding party in Deh Bala, Afghanistan. 47 civilians were killed. In both cases, the US military claims these were not wedding parties, but militant gatherings. Independent investigations, however, have proven the US military wrong. Source: Wikipedia (Mukaradeeb), Wikipedia (Deh Bala)
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In 2007, Blackwater employees kill 17 civilians in the Nisour Massacre. One employee is convicted of murder, and three others of manslaughter. Source: The Guardian and Wikipedia
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In 2011, a small team of US soldiers plead guilty to killing Afghan civilians for sport. Source: The Guardian
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After a firefight in the Iraqi town Ishaqi, US soldiers enter a house killing 11 residents (5 of which were children). Autopsies revealed that the residents were first handcuffed, then shot in the head. Missiles from overhead helicopters then later bomb the house. Source: McClatchyDC
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In 2010, WikiLeaks released the Afghan War Diary, a collection of classified military operations in Afghanistan. These reports detail a number of previously unknown civilian casualties caused by the recklessness of coalition troops and paramilitary forces. The Pentagon criticized WikiLeaks for releasing the documents without proper redaction. But WikiLeaks contacted the Pentagon asking for help redacting the documents and the Pentagon refused. Wikipedia has an excellent summary of information learned from the leaks.
In 2010, WikiLeaks released the Iraq War Logs, a collection of classified military operations in Iraq. These documents describe a number of abuses by both American forces (e.g. under reporting civilian casualties, counting journalists as enemy combatants, killings by civilian contractors) and Iraqi security forces (e.g. torturing of prisoners, summary executions). Wikipedia has an excellent summary of information learned from the leaks, including detailed sourcing.
Both series of leaks were provided by Specialist Manning, an intelligence analyst for the US Army. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Then Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley accuses the US military of abusing Manning while in detention and is forced to resign his post. Wikipedia has a detailed summary of Manning's case.
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The ADE651 claims to be a device for detecting explosives and drugs, but it is an obvious fraud whose design is based on a $5 gag gift. The product brochure claims the device uses "nuclear quadropole resonance" to detect controlled substances, but the device contains no electronics and doesn't even take a battery. Sadly, the device was sold to the Iraqi military and was heavily used in Iraq at checkpoints. At one point, operators believed cologne was interfering with the device's operation, and so all perfume bottles had to be removed from vehicles before being searched. The device had a list price of $40,000 per unit, and more than 5000 units were sold to Iraq. Despite numerous arrests and proof of fraud, officials in Baghdad continue to defend the device. Source: Vanity Fair
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When the United States captured Al-Queda leader Abu Zubaydahin 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" to extract information that might prevent future terrorist activity. According the Office of Legal Council, these enhanced interrogation techniques were legal as long as they didn't occur on American soil. Furthermore, according to the US, enhanced interrogation techniques do not constitute torture as long as the interrogator does not "have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering". The memos authorizing these techniques are known as the torture memos.
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In 2005, the CIA destroyed selected video tapes of the enhanced interrogations. The stated purpose was to protect the identity of the interrogators. The destruction did not follow proper guidelines, and was against the recommendation of White House lawyers. In a later investigation of the CIA's interrogations, Senator Feinstein (D-CA) reported that she suspected the CIA of destroying damning evidence. Wikipedia has a good overview with links to news sources.
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In the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, it was revealed that US Army guards committed physical and sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and murder against Iraqi detainees. There's way too much for me to write about, but the wikipedia article provides an excellent summary of the scandal.
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A Yemeni journalist proved that the US used cluster bombs to kill 35 women and children. Obama then successfully demanded the journalist be imprisoned for years. Source: The Nation
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John Kiriakou was a CIA agent. He believed the "enhanced interrogation" techniques used in Guantanamo Bay were actually torture, and so he released information about them to the public. In particular, this is how the public learned about water boarding. Kirkiakou was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. He maintains it was the right thing to do, and says "I would do it all again." Source: Democracy Now
Kiriakou is the only government official to go to jail due to Guantanamo abuses. Source: The Verge
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Senator John McCain claims that during WWII, the US considered waterboarding a war crime. We tried and hanged Japanese soldiers for it. Source: Press TV
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An innocent Australian man was held in Guantanamo without trial for five years. Source: Sputnik News
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Lakhdar Boumediene was an innocent man detained in Guantanamo for seven years. He describes his abduction by the CIA and time at Guantanamo in a NYTimes oped.
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Metadata collection (as revealed by Snowden) was instrumental in finding suspects to be detained in Guantanamo. Source: Ryan Gallagher
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The US government played music by Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy as part of their enhanced interrogation techniques. The band sent an invoice to the US government charging $666,000 in royalty fees. Source: Brooklyn Vegan
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As of January 2015, the Obama administration has confirmed launching 456 drone strikes killing 2464 people in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. This is more than double the casualty rate during the Bush administration. Source: The Bureau Investigates
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The US counts all military age males killed in a drone strike as enemy combatants, even if there is no evidence that they were. Source: The Intercept
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A 13 year old Yemeni boy says on TV:
A lot of the kids in this area wake up from sleeping because of nightmares from [the drones] and some now have mental problems. They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day and night, we even dream of them in our sleep.
Two months later, the boy is killed in a drone attack. Source: The Guardian
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video Obama tells jokes about drone strikes.
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video US drones kill more people than ISIS.
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The United States has had a continual military presence in Latin America since the 1800s.
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In the Banana Wars of the late 19th century, the US fought on behalf of the United Fruit corporation.
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During the Cold War, the US supported military coups against many democratically elected regimes. These include:
- the 1954 Guatemalan coup,
- the 1964 Brazilian coup,
- the 1973 Chilean Coup
The US-sponsored dictators committed many human rights abuses.
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After Hurricane Katrina, the US government refused foreign aide from Cuba and Venezuela. This aide would have included: mobile hospitals, water treatments plants, 1500 doctors, and 26.4 tons of medicine. Source: The BBC
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The US Army runs the School of Americas (SOA) to provide Latin American military forces "anti-communist counterinsurgency training." The SOA Watch lists 56 notorious graduates. These are high ranking military officers from Latin American countries who were trained at the SOA and went on to commit human rights abuses in their home country. The official SOA response is that "that no school should be held accountable for the actions of its graduates."
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Columbia has had major internal conflict since the 1960s. The United States sends military aide to the government to help them fight the leftist militias. Between 2003 and 2007, US soldiers raped 54 Columbians. They filmed the abuse and sold the films as pornography. But due to bilateral agreements between the US and Columbia, these soldiers are immune from prosecution. Source: Colombia Reports
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video This video in the style of School House Rock explains some of the history of US involvement in Latin America.
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After the San Diego police starting using body cams on officers, complaints fell 41% and use of force by 47%. Source: LA Times
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All 50 states fail to live up to international standards on the use of violence. Source: The Guardian
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The FBI publishes yearly reports on the number of justifiable homicides committed by police officers. On average, these reports track 383 homicides per year. Independent review found that the police commit 938 homicides per year, the difference being untracked by the FBI. Source: The Guardian (a British newspaper)
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1 in 13 people killed by guns are killed by police. Source: The Washington Post
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An academic study finds that Occupy protests turn violent due to police provocations. These actions, which include bringing AR-15 assault rifles to peaceful protests "aren't necessarily intended to provoke, but have that effect." Source: UC Berkeley
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In 2013, the country of Iceland had it's first ever police shooting. The country goes into mourning. Compare this to the American reaction to a police shooting. Source: Public Radio International
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video A man in a wheelchair approaches a police officer. The officer pushes the handicapped man, causing him to fly from the chair. The officer faces no repercussions.
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video Aerial footage of police excessively beating a fleeing unarmed man.
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New York city police regulations do not allow officers to use choke holds. Nevertheless, a police officer puts Eric Garner in a choke hold, killing him. Witnesses report the victim was saying "I can't breathe" to the officer. Source: The NYTimes
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Police shoot Walter Scott. He is unarmed and fleeing. Source: The NY Times
video After shooting Walter Scott, the police officer plants a taser on the dying body.
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Baltimore police shoot Freddie Gray. Afterward, he is handcuffed in the back of the patrol vehicle while the officers conduct more patrols. He pleads for help and eventually dies from his wounds. This sets off riots in Baltimore. Source: The BBC
The Bloods and the Crips (two notoriously rival gangs) team up to protest police abuses. Source: The Daily Beast, gang members speak on local TV station WBALTV
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Florida cop shoots unarmed black man. Witnesses report the man had his hands in the air and was begging the officer not to shoot. Source: Counter Current News
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A boy with Down Syndrome is driving a car. A police officer claims that he "feared for his life" because the boy was driving the car towards him. The officer shoots the boy three times. Internal police investigation clears the officer of wrongdoing, citing the officer's dashcam video that does not show the scene of the incident. A traffic camera that does show the incident (and that the car is driving aware from the officer at the time of the shooting) is ignored. Source: The Free Thought Project
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SWAT team hits a 2 year old with a grenade during a minor drug raid. The raiding police refuse to let the parents take the child to the hospital until hours after the incident. There were no drugs in the house. Source: Salon, The Daily Sheeple, The Guardian
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video A police officer asks a black man for his drivers license. He reaches into the car to grab it. The officer shoots him.
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Victor White was handcuffed and in the back of a police car. Officers claim to have left the car and came back to find White had committed suicide by shooting himself in the back. Autopsy reports contradict the officer's testimony. Source: NBC
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The town of Inkster, Michigan is 78% black, but the police force is 90% white. In this incident, a black man named Floyd Dent is pulled over for a traffic stop. Dash cams on the patrol car show officers beating the victim and planting drugs in his car. Source: The Guardian
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Albuquerque police officer shoots and kills a mentally ill homeless man. Footage from his label camera goes missing. To avoid an internal investigation, the officer retires, receiving a full pension. Source: The AntiMedia
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According to former special agent for the DEA Mathew Fogg, DEA agents were told not to enforce drug laws in rich white neighborhoods. Statistics show that drugs are just as common in these neighborhoods, but Fogg's boss explained that enforcing the drug laws there would get the DEA in political trouble. Source: Ben Norton's blog
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Black teenagers are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police officers than white teenagers. Source: ProPublica
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video At a police conference, a room full of officers sing a song making fun of Michael Brown and his supporters. Brown was recently shot by police, setting off a string of protests.
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Michael Brown memorial tree cut down in Ferguson park less than 24 hours after dedication
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Family and friends create a memorial for Michael Brown. A police office lets his police dog urinate on the memorial; then officers "trample" the memorial with their cars. Source: Mother Jones
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Police officer sends text message saying:
I wish someone would pull a Ferguson on them and take them out. I hate looking at those African monkeys at work. I enjoy arresting those thugs with their saggy pants.
Source: The Advocate
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Department Of Justice Orders Ferguson Police To Stop Wearing 'I Am Darren Wilson' Bracelets
- During the Korean War, North Korean spread propaganda explaining why blacks shouldn't fight in Korea. Here is scan of their leaflets.
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The NYPD uses the same special task force for counterterrorism and managing protests. Source: NYPost
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Internal plans created by the National Guard referred to Ferguson protesters as "enemy forces." Source: The Guardian
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video John Oliver explains the racially heated police militarization in Ferguson.
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DEA arrests a UC San Diego student and "forget about him." The student is left in a prison cell for 5 day without food or water. He is forced to drink his own urine to survive. Source: LA Times
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A police officer is at the scene of a domestic dispute. He draws his pistol to fire at a dog. He falls to the ground but continues firing, killing a woman. No charges are brought against the officer. Source: Filming Cops
- The United States has more jails than colleges. With 2.3 million prisoners (0.7% of the population), the US has by a wide margin the largest incarceration rate in the world. The Washington Post created a map of where those prisoners live.
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General Petraeus was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of the CIA. He illegally leaked classified documents to Paula Broadwell (a reporter and also his girlfriend). During a follow on investigation, he lied to the FBI, stating he "had never provided Broadwell with classified information." His punishment was only a $40,000 fine and two years probation. Lower level government officials receive significantly harsher punishments. Source: The Nation, USA Today
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Officer Caesar Goodson Jr lead the team of police accused of murdering Freddie Gray. His bail was set at $350,000. During the riots following the murder, Allen Bullock used an orange traffic cone to smash the window of a police car. His bail was set at $500,000 and he faces life in prison. Source: The New Republic, The Root
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Video Police officer starts inappropriately frisking a woman. A nearby male friend says he doesn't like what's happening, so starts filming with a cellphone. The police arrest the male friend and charge him with assault. Video evidence clearly shows the male friend was being polite and did not assault the cops. No charges are filed against the police officers.
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There are many laws designed to protect police from being prosecuted. For example, in Maryland, when police officers are subject to disciplinary actions, they cannot be questioned about the event for 10 days after the accusation. This gives the officers time to straighten out their stories. Source: dailykos.
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A police officer shoots and kills an innocent man because he "reached for his waist" where a weapon might have been concealed. Three other police officers, a police negotiator, and two civilians who were at the scene report the victim never reached for his waist. The shooting officer is never charged. Source: CBC
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When an innocent traveller asks to file a complaint against a TSA officer, he is thrown in jail. Later, the same TSA officer testifies under oath that the traveller was acting rowdy and making bomb threats. Video evidence, however, shows the TSA officer is lying. The officer is not fired for his misconduct. Source: Philly
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Police in Santa Ana, CA raid a pot shop. The police attempt to disable all the video cameras, but they forgot about one. The camera catches them: stealing the shop's inventory, discussing beating the customers, and discussing past DUI offenses. The police file a lawsuit that successfully prevents the footage from being used in an internal investigation because "without the recordings, there would have been no internal investigation of any officer." Source: The Atlantic
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A UN report on torture says life sentences for youth are cruel, inhumane and degrading. The United States is the only country in the world to imprison kids for life without parole. Source: Al Jazeera
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Crimes involving computers carry absurdly harsh penalties. For example: Aaron Schwartz was a computer programmer and important member of the open source community. In 2011, Aaron made thousands of research articles available to the public to download for free. He was charged with computer fraud and his maximum punishment would have been a million dollar fine plus 35 years in prison. After a lengthy legal process, Aaron committed suicide.
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Prison guards kill a black inmate by burning his skin off with scolding hot water. The guards are not prosecuted. Source: Breaking Brown and The Miami Herald The Miami Herald
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About half of prison sexual assault complaints in 2011 were filed against staff. Source: The NY Times
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A North Carolina inmate in solitary confinement dies of thirst after being denied water by the prison guards. Source: Raw Story
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Inmate and artist Elena Pritchard draws moving comics that capture her experience in prison. Source: The Prison Art Coalition, The Huffington Post
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A Texas prisoner writes:
Every day from dusk to dawn there's noise, banging, clanking, yelling, screaming. Everyday someone is getting hurt or hurting themselves. Everyday there's fire and floods and complete chaos & hate... Every day is a challenge here. A challenge against insanity.
Source: ACLU
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A Connecticut prisoner writes:
Sexualized violence is often used as a tool to subdue inmates whom guards see as upstarts. In May 2008, while in a restricted housing unit, or “the SHU” as it is commonly known, I was sexually assaulted by a guard. ... The "investigation," which I found more traumatic than the assault, dragged on for more than two months until they determined that my allegation couldn’t be substantiated.
Source: NYTimes opinion piece
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Chicago police maintain a "black site" called Homan Square where citizens are detained without being charged for a crime. One former detainee claims to have been sexually abused by the police while held in Homan square illegally. Source: The Guardian
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This black site uses techniques pioneered at Guatanamo bay for "touchless torcher." These techniques include isolation, food deprivation, and no outside contact. Some lawyers report not being able to contact their clients who are jailed inside. Source: The Atlantic
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One of the detectives working at Homan Square was a navy reserve lieutenant who also worked at Guantanmo Bay. He applied the "enhanced interrogation techniques" from Guantanamo to American citizens in Chicago. These techniques included: shackling suspects to the walls through eyebolts for hours, forcing suspects to endure extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation, and threatening family members. Many false convictions resulted from these practices. Source: The Atlantic
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Since 2011, the Department of Defense has paid NFL teams $5.4 million to salute US troops during games. Source: Scout
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The US military gives special funding and resources to movies that portray the military in a positive light. For example:
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In 2008, a federal judge ruled that the Wikileaks domain name needed to be redirected because it was exposing information harmful to the Swiss bank Julius Baer. After the electronic frontier foundation intervened, the judge dissolved his previous orders. Source: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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In 2010, Wikileaks released the material leaked by Specialist Manning. The US government responds by pressuring private corporations to fight Wikileaks. For example:
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At the time, Wikileaks was paying Amazon (via Amazon Web Services) to host their website. After being pressured by the US government, Amazon stops hosting Wikileaks. Source: The Guardian
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Banks begin blocking credit card transactions to Wikileaks. This is the main way that supporters donate money to Wikileaks. Without this income, Wikileaks couldn't afford to host their leaked documents online. Source: The Guardian
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On July 3, 2011, two officers of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police shot and killed Charles Hill at Civic Center Station in San Francisco. On August 12, 2011, BART shut down cell phone services, including mobile Internet access, for three hours in an effort to limit possible protests against the shooting and to keep communications away from protesters at the Civic Center station in San Francisco. Source: PC Magazine
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Every year, corporations fail to pay an estimated 40-60 billion dollars that they legally owe to low income workers across the country. This failure to pay is known as "wage theft." This compares to national annual losses of only 12 billion dollars to more traditional forms of theft like robbery, burglary, larceny, and auto theft. Source: wikipedia has a great summary of sources, Think Progress describes a specific example involving Jimmy John's sandwich shop.
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Law enforcement agencies are legally required to respond to certain types requests for information about their activity. Many law enforcement agencies have become private corporations, however, in order to circumvent these requirements. Source: The Washington Post Wall Street banks award executives millions of dollars for getting in government positions
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Full time employees at Wal-Mart still require public assistance due to their low wages. They receive $2.66 billion in government help each year. Source: Bloomberg
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In the "Kids for Cash" scandal, two Pennsylvania judges were bribed into sentencing thousands of children to private prisons. Source: Wikipedia has a number of details and references.
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A headphone manufacturer deliberately adds a new piece to a line of headphones to make them sounds worse. This is their new product line (which they sell for less) to compete with lower-range headphones from other manufacturers. Source: Technical analusis on an engineer's blog
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Between 2005-2009, the tech companies Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay had illegal agreements that they would not hire each other's employees. Estimates suggest that employees of these companies lost $3 billion dollars due to the resulting lower wages. As a fine, these companies only had to repay $334 million. Wikipedia has a great summary of the case
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Exxon causes a major oil spill in New Jersey. There is an estimated $8.9 billion in damages to the environment. Exxon is required to pay only a $250 million fine. Source: The NYTimes
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100 homes in Arlington Texas have to be evacuated as 42 thousand gallons of fracking fluid spills over the streets. One month later, another 1500 gallon spill occurs at the same site. Source: WFAA
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University of Oklahoma researchers were investigating the possible link between fracking and increased earth quake activity. Harold Hamm is the billionaire CEO of the energy company Continental Resources. Hamm contacted the University's dean trying to get the researchers fired. Source: Bloomberg
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The company Crowds on Demand let's politicians hire people to show up at media events and claim to be grassroots supporters for candidates. Liberty Chat had a brief under cover interview.
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a controversial bill that was fast-tracked through Congress. Many believe the bill would help large corporations at the expense of small businesses. During the debate for the bill, corporations donate $1.1 million dollars in campaign funding to congressman to secure the bill's passing. Source: The Guardian
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Why is marijuana illegal? The top 5 special interest groups lobbying to keep it illegal are: police unions, private prison corporations, alcohol companies, pharmeceutical companies, and prison guard unions. Source: Republic Report
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In many UC cities, it is de facto illegal to be homeless. 187 major cities have bans on: sleeping in public, begging in public, sitting in public, lying down in public, food sharing, and sleeping in vehicles. See for example: MSNBC, Homeless State Laws blog, Think Progress, American Cynic
These behavioral laws are selectively enforced against the homeless and their advocates. See for example, The Guardian.
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People who feed the homeless are regularly harassed and arrested by police. See for example: Raw Story, khon2.
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Businesses install spikes around their storefronts to keep the homeless away. See for example: twitter, The Guardian