Lorance started with tough rhetoric the day he took over. “He looks like the all-American sweetheart when you meet him,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel Williams. “But he was just so aggressive. One of the first things he said to us was, we are going to go in Gestapo-style with night raids, pull people out of houses, make them afraid of us.” Lorance ordered sharpshooters to fire rounds into a village, striking near civilians. In one case, he told a sharpshooter to torment a man by firing near his head.   read more

A warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square has been in use for years by special police units as the equivalent of a “black site” interrogation center, reminiscent of those used by the CIA. Those questioned there, even children as young as 15, are denied their constitutional protections and are reportedly beaten and shackled. People brought there aren't even logged in. "When you go in, no one knows what’s happened to you," said Brian Church.   read more

A 2014 report by the Pentagon’s inspector general revealed the agency’s “hardware store”—the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)—paid one manufacturer, Bell Helicopter, $9 million more than it should have for commercial parts. The overpayments to Bell last year averaged out to 392%.The report also found that American taxpayers aren’t finished overpaying for parts. “DLA may overpay as much as $2.6 million over the next 12 months on future orders under this contract,” the report said.   read more

When conservatives have argued climate change is not a human-produced problem, they often have exalted the work of scientist “Willie” Soon. But now it has been revealed that Soon received support from Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute, often blamed for generating greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Soon did not disclose this financial backing while publishing numerous scientific papers, which would indicate he was trying to hide this obvious conflict of interest.   read more

GCHQ planted malware on Gemalto computers, which enabled the agency to steal the encryption keys the company put on SIMs sold to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and other wireless companies around the world. Having the key makes it a snap to read all the information, whether voice or data, coming from a phone.   read more