A growing national database containing school students names, addresses, test scores, learning disabilities, attendance records, disciplinary actions, extracurricular activities, vocational and technical training…. [household income, parental political affiliations, voting records, gun registrations, criminal histories, regulatory and compliance activity, IRS tax records, Obamacare medical records, known affiliations, religious beliefs, car registration, purchasing habits, energy consumption, carbon footprint compliance, etc.] ….for contractual and/or employment review, dontchaknow… Gee, what could possibly go wrong ?

RFID Tracking chips on school ID’s.   Take home laptops with GPS and spy-cam functions.  And…  Oh yeah, and those pesky ALPR (automatic license plate readers) are for what use again?

NEW YORK – In an unprecedented move, education officials will hand over personal student data to a new private company to create a national database for businesses that contract with public schools.

Working with the city, state education officials are already uploading private information about students — their names, addresses, test scores, learning disabilities, attendance and disciplinary records — into a $100 million database called inBloom. (more…)

As with all of the political turmoil present within nations, including our own, there are alignments of self-interest which need to be identified.    For a close to home reference you might think about the differences between the “establishment class” of Republicans and the “grassroots conservatives” who also situate under the same tent.

We who value “freedom” and cherish “liberty” would no more consider Mitch McConnell a champion of our cause than Barack Obama.  Nor would we align with “establishment” principles – yet, from the outside looking in, it would be easy to define us with ideological attachment to Republicans simply by our association. 

It would be easy, yet it would be vastly inaccurate.   Such is the larger dynamic as we look toward Ukraine and what is taking place.

“Freedom” and “Liberty” are tenuous propositions under the best of circumstances because they ultimately are defined by people.   People with a vested interest in controlling the expressions thereof.    

With that in mind a thoughtful contributor, with direct attachment to Ukrainian heritage, has provided us with a larger perspective to consider:

Things are being presented in the Western media a particular way, I don’t quite understand why.

People are not hearing anything about the normal ethnic Ukrainians across the country that are being stopped if their cars are too nice by groups of protesters in the roads with baseball bats.

The people get searched, cars searched, and told “it’s the law of the revolution” when asked what give the protesters the right to do take people’s property.  We’re not hearing how the protesters and low information supporters have burned out police stations and told the police “we no longer need you”.

They have burned all records in some of the police stations so you can’t tell why people are locked up.  The useful idiots are destroying the country’s civilized infrastructure.

It is exactly what occupy wall street wanted/wants to do here. (more…)

MUST WATCH VIDEO:    and I do mean watch the whole thing….

Note the Police Officer comment @6:50:   “Now, you had just better get back in your vehicle, and fucking leave“…

Unlike a lot of u-tube videos showing incredibly abusive police power, this one stays directly and concisely on point.   Excellent presentation.

If The Feb 21 agreement is not upheld….  Prepare for our war Kharkiv comrades….  the girly man in America will do nothing…

#BREAKING Ukraine's Yanukovych blocked from taking plane to Russia: parliament speaker

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 22, 2014

(Via XX Committee)  Things are moving very fast in Ukraine today. President Yanukovych, after the bloodbath this week on the streets of Kyiv, has been thrown out of office by the parliament. The country is in turmoil, and in the east, centered on Kharkiv, the Moscow-backed Ukrainian Front, that I informed you of three weeks ago, is arming the population and preparing for civil war.

And now the Russian Foreign Ministry has made its position clear in a new press release on its website – the new government in Kyiv is illegitimate and it’s the West’s fault.

This is a remarkably rough diplomatic message.

It cannot be construed as anything less than a threat to an independent Ukraine.

The full text follows …  (more…)

Bumped and Updated @2:00pm (USA/EST) Massive protests today in Caracus, Merida and all around Venezuela.

Protesta indescriptible en Caracas. pic.twitter.com/qHyBV8Dcwm

— CastoOcando.com (@cocando) February 22, 2014

Protesters fill the streets of Merida, #Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/SSuJgNjR6W via @machixblue

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 22, 2014

RT @mrgarciafrank #BreakingNews More than 1 million people manifest in Caracas Venezuela against dictatorship Maduro http://t.co/pAwEGlljzi

— SaloumehZ (@SaloumehZ) February 22, 2014

(more…)

New York Times […] MEXICO CITY — The world’s most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, has been captured, a senior American law enforcement official said Saturday, ending a 13-year manhunt for the chief supplier of illegal drugs to the United States and much of the world.

[…]  Mexican marines captured him in the Pacific beach resort area of Mazatlan. There were no reports of shots fired. In the past year, several of his top associates had been detained and crime analysts who follow the drug world had speculated his days were increasingly numbered. (more…)

Yeah, I did that…

#Yanukovych is not the President of #Ukraine anymore!Glory to Heroes that died for this -live VR |PR News #Euromaidan pic.twitter.com/GfUDD5RlDj

— Ukraine Front Line (@EuromaidanPR) February 22, 2014

WASHINGTON DC – President Viktor Yanukovych left Kiev after inking a deal Friday with opposition leaders to end the bloodshed, while the Obama administration was left explaining its role as the events quickly unfolded. […] (more…)

Ukraine citizens were never allowed to see the home of their president, until today…..

Families, protestors and the media stream into presidential residence outside Kiev pic.twitter.com/EZ9vXMZgsy

— Emma Wells (@Emmawells1) February 22, 2014

(Via Weaselzippers)  We’ve heard a lot about how protesters were upset with President Yanukovych’s choice to align with Russia rather than the EU. But there also was a lot of upset with regard to the perceived corruption in the Yanukovych administration.

His residence was not even made public until today. Now it has been occupied by the protesters who want to preserve it as a “Monument Of Corruption”.

Here are some of the pictures from the residence and grounds:

With security abandoned, people of #Kyiv finally see estate of President #Yanukovych. pic.twitter.com/RARCrPlQOt via @gruppa_voina

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 22, 2014

(more…)

Finland Beats Team USA 5-0 to win bronze medal

USA Men's Hockey fails to medal as they're blown out 5-0 by Finland in the bronze medal game pic.twitter.com/E61NEUGbAK

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 22, 2014

5-0 loss to Finland ties U.S. men's hockey's largest shutout loss in Olympics history

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 22, 2014

Team USA's morale is not very high right now. pic.twitter.com/okFd48m7YI

— BuzzFeed Sports (@BuzzFeedSports) February 22, 2014

Project Veritas – In one of our most recent videos a Battleground Texas volunteer talks about forging signatures on official voting documents (which is voter fraud) nonchalantly saying, “It happens all the time.”

She’s right it, it does. And Project Veritas proves it in this latest video.

Battleground Texas Field Organizer Jennifer Longoria was caught on camera multiple times making statements such as, “So every time we register someone to vote we keep their name and number.”

Doing so however, is illegal. According to the Secretary of State, it is unlawful to transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a telephone number furnished on a voter registration application.  (read more)