The information war in Mexico: journalists murdered, citizens monitored

_{Demonstrators protest the murders of photojournalist Ruben Espinosa, activist Nadia Vera, and three others. August 2, 2015. Photo credit.}

Drug war agency collected billions of US call records without any court oversight—and your local cops can get your records, too

In just the latest evidence that the drug war is the primary driver of the surveillance state in the US, we've recently learned that the nation's federal law enforcement agency tasked with fighting the war on drugs was sucking up billions of records of our communications long before the NSA started doing it.

Minnesota police chief warns against regulating license plate readers, because ISIS

A Minnesota police chief has not-so-subtly warned state legislators that stopping police from warrantlessly tracking the movements of every motorist could play into ISIS' hands.

A cogent and concise argument in favor of legalizing drugs—all of them

^{_{Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer.}}

Economics professor Jeffrey Miron explains why legalizing all drugs is a good idea.

Texas border war on steroids with Swiss made surveillance plane, infrared cameras

^{_{Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer.}}

US military quintuples assistance to Mexico for bloody drug war

The US Department of Defense is stepping up its aid to the Mexican military for drug war training and joint operations. Funds for the training of Mexican military drug units has increased to $15 million this year, up from just $3 million in 2009.

USA Today:

Wiretap report shows explosion in government surveillance, nearly all drug war related

Police train for war, while the people unite for change

^{_{Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer.}}

The Attorney General, sentencing reform, and what went wrong with Edward Alemany

_{Photo credit: Edouard Hue}

This guest blog is by Andrea Lance 

Secret drug war deployment of NSA intelligence evidence of mission creep

Ever since Edward Snowden’s leaks began to trickle out of Glenn Greenwald’s space at the Guardian, many in the United States have wondered aloud: “How often is this NSA-collected data used in non-terrorism, criminal prosecutions in the United States?”

A number of insights gleaned over the past week point to some very distressing possible answers.