13 years in prison for Chalk Slogans
A protester in California has been acquitted of all charges after being tried for writing protest slogans on a sidewalk. Jeff Olson faced up to 13 years in prison and $13,000 in fines on misdemeanor vandalism charges after using washable chalk outside three Bank of America branches in San Diego. Olsons messages included “No Thanks, Big Banks” and “Shame on Bank of America.” He has accused a Bank of America executive, Darrell Freeman, of pressuring local prosecutors to go through with the case. After the verdict, Olson urged supporters to protest big banks by moving their money to local credit unions.
Jeff Olson: “Theres one way for them to send a message that will be heard, and thats to close your account at a big Wall Street bank and move your money to a local, non-profit, community credit union. If youre mad about this, if you think this wasnt fair what happened to me, close your Wall Street bank account.”
Olsons acquittal comes days after a similar arrest in Pennsylvania. Healthcare activist AJ Marin was detained for using chalk to write a sidewalk slogan against Republican Governor Tom Corbetts decision to reject federal funds for expanding Medicare. Marin wrote: “Governor Corbett has health insurance, we should too.” Hes been charged with disorderly conduct.
Japanese Regulator Says Fukushima Plant Has Been Leaking for 2 Years; Plant Boss Dies of Cancer
Japan’s lead nuclear regulator has admitted the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has likely been leaking water contaminated with radioactive material for the past two years, ever since it was heavily damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Shunichi Tanaka, head of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, confessed neither operators nor regulators know the origin of the leaks or how to stop them. Meanwhile, Masao Yoshida, the manager of the plant who led the hazardous fight to staunch the 2011 nuclear disaster, has died of esophogeal cancer at the age of 58.
Latest Snowden Docs Show Microsoft’s Collaboration on NSA Spying
The latest documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal how Microsoft collaborated with U.S. intelligence agencies to facilitate the interception of online communications. The Guardian reports Microsoft worked closely with the National Security Agency, even helping it skirt the company’s own encryption on Outlook.com web chats. The firm reportedly worked with the FBI to facilitate NSA access to its popular cloud storage service SkyDrive. The documents also relate to Skype, the Microsoft-owned Internet phone service. A document from July 2012 shows the NSA bragged that the number of Skype video calls being collected through its top-secret PRISM program had tripled due to a new capability. Microsoft issued a statement in response to the revelations, saying it follows the law and “does not provide any government with blanket or direct access to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product.”