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empty pockets
$33-billion for the wealthy, $2-billion for the poor

      ♦  The bill heavily touted as extending unemployment benefits had a lot of support from Republicans.
      That should make your eyebrow rise, because when Republicans and Democrats support the same legislation that's usually the first clue that something's wrong. The real point of the legislation seems to have been rewriting the accounting rules so that giant corporations can re-calculate their bottom lines over recent years and qualify for an immediate refund of any federal taxes paid during that time. The portion of the bill that hands money to giant corporations totals about $33-billion, while the portion that extends unemployment benefits adds up to a bit more than $2-billion.

      ♦  District Judge David S. Cercone (appointed by Bush43 in 2002) has ruled that collecting and cataloging DNA from everyone who's arrested is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
      It's a seriously encouraging sign, I think, when there's a moment of common sense from someone appointed to the bench by George W. Bush.

      ♦  Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) says that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will be part of next year's Defense authorization bill in Congress.
      Believe it when you see it.

Health care hell in America
health care sucks in America

      ♦  UnitedHealth, one of the giant insurance companies that kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, is urging its employees to write letters to the editor pushing for the defeat of any public option in health care reform, even the paltry joke of a public option that's under consideration.
      Of course.

      ♦  The 1976 Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding of abortion, is a tradition, says President Obama. Poor women who can't afford abortions get no help from the government, and that's a tradition that Mr "Change" wouldn't want to challenge.
      The President also respects the tradition that gay people get fewer civil rights, the tradition that America fights wars for nothing, the tradition that Wall Street owns the federal government, the tradition that little people get screwed. He's a very traditional guy.

      ♦  Among the numerous backroom deals and assorted sell-outs by Democrats designed to make sure that health care reform is insurance-company-friendly crapola, perhaps none have caught people's attention as well as the "no abortion" amendment sponsored by Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Michigan). And apparently, Stupak's amendment, harsh and misogynist as it was, was actually watered down from a harsher, more misogynist original version.
      I will cheerfully pledge a $25 campaign donation I can't afford to any real Democrat who runs against Stupak in next year's primary.

      ♦  Unless Congress does an about-face, health care reform won't include women's abortions in any policies underwritten by federal funding... but it will include federal funding for Christian Science prayer treatments, as if that's medicine.

      ♦  Chuck Dupree at Bad Attitudes has it pretty much right: Health care reform is vitally important, so important that since Democrats aren't interested in doing health care reform nobody who gives a damn should support the Dems' so-called health care reform legislation.


      ♦  "Driving is a privilege, and drivers should take every precaution," says Illinois copper Isaiah Vega, explaining why cops are ticketing drivers for having air fresheners or other baubles hanging from their rear view mirrors.
      Sounds like a pretext to me, or more accurately a post-text — made-up grounds for pulling someone over when they were actually pulled over for being black, or for being young, or for looking funny at Officer Vega.

      ♦  The Catholic Church says it'll drop its tax-funded social services contract in Washington DC, if the District passes a proposed same-sex marriage law.
      This, of course, spotlights the problem that's always been obvious — the state shouldn't be paying churches for anything. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the many, many Catholic archdioceses involved in covering up for pedophile priests, so once again we see that whatever the Catholic Church's mission might be, it ain't about helping ordinary people.

      ♦  Governor Donald Carcieri (R-Rhode Island) has vetoed legislation that would have allowed domestic partners — gay or straight — to make burial or cremation arrangements after each other's deaths, same as spouses or parents. "This bill represents a disturbing trend", says the Governor, "of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage".
      The news coverage does not mention what species Governor Carcieri is, but human seems out of the question.

      ♦  The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is suing over the obviously unconstitutional bill passed in Congress last month that sought to strip the group of its federal contracts. They'll win, and here's hoping they win big damages.

      ♦  The Obama administration continues doing all it can to protect the Bush-Cheney era torturers, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates uses his new enhanced and probably unconstitutional authority to overrule the Freedom of Information Act and keep more photos super-secret.
U.S. Bill of Rights

The First Amendment

      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Second Amendment

      A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Third Amendment

      No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The Fourth Amendment

      The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fifth Amendment

      No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Sixth Amendment

      In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

The Seventh Amendment

      In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

The Eighth Amendment

      Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Ninth Amendment

      The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The Tenth Amendment

      The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.


      ♦  During the first days after the transition from Bush-Cheney to Obama-Biden, Bush holdovers at the Justice Department subpoenaed information on “all traffic to and from” the alternative news site IndyMedia. Thankfully, with legal help from the Electronic Freedom Foundation (donate), IndyMedia was able to have the subpoena withdrawn, but still — it's scary, it's abusive, and there were no consequences for anyone but the victims.

      ♦  The home of former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) operative Richard Horn was bugged by the CIA in 1992, during the Presidency of George Bush the elder. Horn sued during the Clinton administration, and through the decade-and-a-half since then, the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations have tried to deflect his lawsuit by claiming "state secrets" — that national security would be imperiled if the facts of the matter were heard in a courtroom. Judge Royce Lamberth (appointed by Reagan, 1987) recently ruled that the Obama administration had to grant security access to Horn's lawyers so that the case could finally be heard. So what happened next?
      The Obama administration has agreed to pay Horn $3-million to settle the case, to keep the facts of the matter remain secret forever.

      ♦  Pending legislation would require ISPs to block your access to sites deemed fraudulent.
      Slippery Slopesville — I can see the reasoning, but let's go slow here and be careful.

      ♦  The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is watching everyone at the airport, with special but super-secret attention to how people behave but no attention at all (har har) to who's Arab-looking and who's white.
      The surprising part is that this is being treated as news — maybe I'm confusing it with some other outrageous intrusion of privacy, but I thought this had been common knowledge for at least several years.

      ♦  The TSA is also standing firm against snowglobes.
      I've said it before and I'll say it again: All the heightened security at the airports and borders is 99% theater, meaningless gestures designed to make you think you're seeing security.

      ♦  The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy trial, so does it seem, uh, constitutional to you that an American can he held for almost four years without a trial, because the state of Georgia claims it can't afford to pay for his legal defense?

      ♦  In an interesting case, two German murderers are suing Wikipedia for publishing their names after they'd completed their prison terms, which is illegal under German law.
      I can see the logic of the law, and I can see the murderers' complaint, which seems perfectly valid and in keeping with the law, but to coin a legal phrase, tough titties. German law needs to step into the 21st century.

      ♦  US District Judge Cameron Currie (appointed by Clinton, 1994) has ruled that it's illegal for South Carolina to offer license plates endorsing Christianity.
      Sweet jeebers, this is tiresome — the separation of church and state is, to a large extent, what separates freedom from tyranny, but perpetual violations of the First Amendment by idiot legislators will continue for as long as there's no penalty. I propose a solution: lawmakers who vote for such silliness as this should be assessed the full cost of litigation when it's struck down by the courts.

      ♦  Cops steal stuff, as a routine part of their jobs. Victims are extorted to get their property back, or simply don't get their property back, and it's kept by cops or sold to add funds to police budgets. This time the story is set in Detroit, but it's routine in many American police departments.

      ♦  In the aftermath of one Muslim going nuts and killing a bunch of soldiers, the right-wing response is that Muslims shouldn't be allowed in the military. People like CNN's Wolf Blitzer and noted conservative pundit Bill Kristol, who got his job by being the son of noted conservative pundit Irving Kristol, say we should forego the trial and simply put the accused killer to death.

      ♦  And a few of the prisoners at Guantanamo get genuine trials, while others don't, and what angers the right-wing isn't that some won't. Rush Limbaugh thinks it's awful that the accused will receive a fair trial, and Sarah Palin thinks it's awful, and Bill O'Reilly thinks it's awful, and Michelle Malkin thinks it's awful, and Charles Krauthammer thinks it's awful, and Rudy Giuliani thinks it's awful, and of course former Attorney General Michael Mukasey thinks it's awful, but that last name on the list is hardly a surprise, since Mukasey thinks the entire US justice system is awful.
      God bless America. I always thought (and still do) that the notion of innocent until proven guilty is a good idea, that due process and the rule of law ought to be more than a mere cliche, but the right-wing's loudest leaders disagree. They can never stop saying how much they love love love America and accusing others of hating America and they just want to tweak America a bit here and there, and one of their favorite tweaks is skipping trials and declaring people guilty. I don't know what these people love but that ain't America.

      ♦  A three-judge panel has ruled that former CIA operative Valerie Plame can't reveal that she's a former CIA operative, even though everyone's well aware that she's a former CIA operative. She had sued after the agency refused to let her discuss her career in detail in her autobiography, despite having been outed by Vice President Dick Cheney and his minions. The court notes that its ruling is absurd, but complains that its hands are tied by CIA rules and claims of national security.
      Since it's abundantly clear that nobody will face any real punishment for outting Plame, the whole thing is striking me as funny, at least this afternoon, though I reserve the right to be Very Concerned tomorrow morning. If you go to work for the CIA you really can't claim to be surprised that Franz Kafka works there.

      ♦  Here's the Catholic Church once again covering up for pedophile priests. It sure seems to be the church's primary mission, right above subjugating women and collecting obscene wealth.

      ♦  Adjusted for accuracy, to sidestep the fakery now built into the official figures, the US unemployment rate is now 17.5%, the highest it's been in more than 25 years.
      That's a hell of a lot of people miserable and worried and maybe hungry, and it just adds to the evidence
fascism  :  a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
that the Obama administration responded to the Bush-Cheney depression all wrong, with bailouts for the rich and a pre-shrunk stimulus program. And the Obama administration continues to respond wrongly — here's a small sliver of what they should be doing.

      ♦  Paul Krugman of the New York Times lucidly explains why "the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right" is scarier than you think, even if you're already scared.

      ♦  Blackwater (now calling itself Xe) tried to bribe Iraqi officials to cover up its killings there.

      ♦  Chrysler milked the federal government to the tune of $12.5-billion mere months ago, purportedly to help develop electric cars. And then, once the check cleared and Fiat took over, the company basically abandoned its plans for electric cars.

      ♦  The priority at General Motors is not to build better cars, not to make bigger profits, not to rebuild the brand, but to rush to pay back its federal bailout loans.
      There are some things you can count on in this world, and one of them is that GM is run very stupidly.

      ♦  Surely nobody who's reading this is dim enough to be banking at Citibank, but if you are, please note that you're about to get screwed a little more than you're already screwed.

      ♦  I already say no thanks when sales types and cashiers ask for my "buyers club" card or the last four digits of my phone number. If you're one of those people to whom privacy matters, as it matters to me, then you might want to say no thanks even when they ask for your zip code.

      ♦  Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein says he was just kidding about being God's banker.

      ♦  Baby strollers made by Maclaren USA have an unfortunate tendency to chop off infants' fingertips.

      ♦  Microsoft is banning a million users from its Xbox.

Afghanistan
♦  The US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has twice contacted the White House in recent days to argue against a military "surge" there.

      ♦  Aram Roston in The Nation explains how US bribes for so-called security purposes in Afghanistan end up underwriting for the Taliban.

Switzerland
♦  Switzerland is suing Google over its "street views", and I am scratching my head. Privacy is dang important, but I'm awfully accustomed to the American standard that you have no expectation of privacy in public places, and heck, Google blurred faces and license plates...

North Korea
♦  North Korean Dear Leader Kim Jong Il is angry about beer commercials.

      ♦  A sane civilization would do something about it, when floating garbage is killing birds.

      ♦  Does the Washington Post have the worst op-ed section in America?
      Sorry, no. The Washington Post doesn't even have the worst op-ed section in Washington, so long as the Washington Times is still being published by Sun Myung Moon. But does the Post op-ed section suck? Oh, yes, yes with an exclamation point!

      ♦  A couple of long-time minor-league publishers are starting a new daily paper to serve the Detroit area.

      ♦  Lou Dobbs has quit Cable News Network.
      With that single announcement CNN's stature as journalism improves from rotten to merely poor. The next announcement, that a real reporter will take over Dobbs' time slot, is perhaps even better news. As usual, The Onion nails it.

'The Thinker' statueIt made me stop and thinkStop and think

      "As the "War on Terror" enters its ninth year to become one of America's longest overseas conflicts, the time has come to ask an uncomfortable question: What impact have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — and the atmosphere they created domestically — had on the quality of our democracy?"

      "Whether one views American government as corrupt by design or by accident has more to do with political illiteracy than self-interest. Watching American voters habitually fawn over celebrities like California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, or cult figures like US president Barack Obama, is a portentous reminder that citizenship is as endangered a phenomenon as leadership. As a system for fleecing the gullible and complacent, our government may have no equal, but as a model for social harmony, it is sorely lacking. One can always, of course, find failed states to use as examples of what we're thankful we haven't yet become, but as social services and communal values are savaged by politicians like Arnold and Barack, that psychological exercise offers little comfort. Without a radical change in direction, our future is Somalia."


      ♦  There seems to be an up-tick in opinion pieces published by mainstream newspapers encouraging readers not to worry about global climate change. Here's Dennis Byrne, "a Chicago-area writer and consultant" who's apparently paid by the Chicago Tribune to say don't worry. Here's Paul Mulshine, who's paid to say don't worry by the Newark Star-Ledger. It's sad, frustrating, and of course evil, but really not surprising, since there's still money to be made from denial.

      ♦  With equal parts bluster and bluff, Rupert Murdoch, publisher of a gazillion newspapers and owner of Fox News, has said he'll remove his properties from Google.

      ♦  Murdoch also says his employee Glenn Beck was correct in calling President Obama "a racist" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people", so decide for yourself whether Murdoch is worth taking seriously.

      ♦  Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Michigan) has leaked what sure seems to be sensitive national security information in order to score cheap political points.

      ♦  The Heritage Foundation is one of the better known "think tanks" funded by the Far Right to give a glimmer of academic polish to right-wing perspectives, and of course, when there's a steady stream of big-bucks underwriting for such opinions it's an almost unavoidable lure for lunacy. Case in point is overcriminalized.com, a website where the Heritage Foundation argues that legislators have gone too far by outlawing benign conduct, and cites as examples laws against child sex slavery, child sex trafficking, child pornography and violence against children.

      ♦  Following the embarrassing disclosure that the Republican Party's insurance policy covers elective abortion, which the party's platform has long called "a fundamental assault on innocent human life", they're yanking that coverage. The same policy, in effect for 18 years, also covers the dreaded (by morons) end-of-life counseling.

      ♦  Former Congressman William Jefferson (D-Louisiana), the guy caught with bundles of cash in his icebox, has been found guilty of bribery and racketeering and sentenced to 13 years in prison by Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III (appointed by Reagan, 1987)
      Goes without saying, of course, that the evidence sure makes Jefferson look like a crook. But Roll Call says this is the longest prison term ever given to a former member of Congress, and I have a question: Do you think Congressman Jefferson is the biggest crook in the history of Congress? Or is he what he seems to be, an ordinarily corrupt Congressman who made the mistake of being corrupt and black in Louisiana?

      ♦  Peter Galbraith, the son of economist John Kenneth Galbraith, helped draft the constitution for the Kurdish provincial government in 2005, giving well-connected Kurds control over the local oil industry and not coincidentally protecting Galbraith's own financial interest in oil fields there. A New York Times article now estimates that Galbraith stands to make "a hundred million or more dollars" from his advice to the Kurds.

      ♦  So where does hooker-customer and former Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-New York) get off lecturing at an ethics center and being bit-by-bit rehabilitated and welcomed on Rachel Maddow's show, while the hookers and johns he sent to prison remain there?

      ♦  Anita Dunn, the White House communications whiz who started the heavily-publicized war on Fox News, has quit. And President Obama has agreed to an interview with Fox's White House correspondent, Major Garrett.
      It's almost enough to give you the impression that the White House lost its war with Fox News — which, if true, indicates a spectacular level of incompetence.

      ♦  Obama's endless Hamlet-act on Afghanistan (To surge, or not to surge?) is starting to look like high school theater to me. If he's seriously thinking it over he ought to do his thinking outside the leak-generated media spotlight.

      ♦  Are Republicans really so disconnected from reality that they're surprised that voting for gang rape in Congress got them some bad press?

      ♦  California is a long ways away from our home in Wisconsin, so we don't usually give stupendously incompetent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) the mockery he deserves, but this small sliver of his stupidity jumped out at me: Schwarzenegger won't seek funding to fix the glaring safety problems on the state's already-existing passenger rail system, because he's only interested in much bigger funding for the long dreamed-of "high speed rail" system that's still years and years away.

      ♦  It's always tricky to predict the right-wing's unbalanced and exaggerated hysteria of the week, but Los Angles Times hack Andrew Malcolm is gambling that the Limbaugh-Drudge-Palin axis will poop its pants at the shocking news that President Obama has again bowed to a foreign leader. The horror, the horror.

      ♦  Yup, we've all heard about the cheerleader who developed weird muscle spasms after getting the seasonal flu vaccine, but as tragic as the case is for this woman, it sure seems to have no implications regarding the safety of flu vaccines.

      ♦  I didn't understand or share the uproar on the Left when beauty contestant Carrie Prejean gave a bumbling and confused answer to a judge's question about same-sex marriage. Her position — she prefers same-sex marriage over "opposite sex" marriage — is indistinguishable from President Obama's position, and while she's not very articulate and doesn't seem to understand anything about the issue at hand, what the hell, she's not in a beauty pageant to display her brains.
      But I've gotta say, it's been astonishing to see the train wreck she's made of her name since then, by so enthusiastically seeking the attention and affection of right-wing nutzoids, and digging herself a deeper hole every time she opens her mouth. Who knew a hole could go so deep? And yet, she's not guilty of anything more than being dim and gullible and I do hope she finds an element of class inside her that we haven't yet seen, and a safe way off the freakshow.

      ♦  Science fiction superstar Joe Haldeman is finally out of the hospital.

      ♦  Evangelist and extreme bad guy Bernie LaZar Hoffman, aka Tony Alamo, is going to prison for the rest of his life.

      ♦  Why oh why are Christians often perceived as bad guys? Who can say? It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, and carrying a Bible that's never been read.

      ♦  So is Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, any good? I'm not about to find out. After years of crashes and blue screens of death, I simply don't like or trust Microsoft, and wherever it's easily done we've migrated to competitors' products. Someday I'll bore you with how happy we are to not be using Microsoft Word or Microsoft's Internet Exploder, but for today I'll just say that this article in PC World made me momentarily want to give Bing a test drive. And then Bing's bonkers main page with at least four pop-up ads sent me scurrying back before I'd even taken a look around.
      Cripes. I switched to Firefox from Internet Explorer precisely because I wanted a browser that would *stop* things from moving around on the screen without prior permission, and we have about half a dozen different add-ons that allow me to block moving ads, kill pop-up menus, prevent video from playing without permission, et cetera. And the very first thing Bing wants to do is present me with four pop-up ads on its home page? I'll just say, wow, and no thanks. Bing there, done that.

      ♦  Dear Abby, aka Abigail Van Buren, aka Pauline Phillips, did a lot of good in this world, by offering generally good advice even when it was at odds with "traditional values" — she was a real leader, as far as mainstream media goes, in accepting such radical notions as the idea that gay people are human and that premarital sex isn't the worst of all possible sins. So we noticed with sadness when Dear Abby's pretty good advice faded to cluelessness about fifteen years ago, as her daughter took over the column, and it's been years since we even glanced at her daughter's column.
      Well, now Dear Abby's daughter, whom we've long referred to as Fake Dear Abby, is being sued by her brother for allegedly stiffing her mother, who's still alive.

      ♦  Unknown News is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. Have a seat and some cheese puffs but please, no smoking. With a tip o' the hat to AK for free quick and efficient software assistance, JR Mooneyham, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Echidne of the Snakes, The Poor Man Institute, Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I, Sherri B., Cassandra, Joseph D., Joe G., Lon Garm, J.S. (not the Watergate felon) Magruder at Why Not Resist?, SirJ, Bill T., Wig, the letter Z, our first home at pitas.com (1999-2003, and still a great place for publishing your blog), and the love of my life (who prefers to remain anonymous).

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Our suggestion is: think.

A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.

These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).

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If you're new to Unknown News,  here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the site, and answers to questions we wish you'd ask instead. Here's our RSS feed, and here's some unknown news you might have missed. If you'd like to say hello or add a comment, here's our email address. And yes, we do sell bumper stickers and stuff.

We assume our readers are well-
informed before they click here, so we focus on news that's generally unknown or under-reported. We're generally disinterested in such non-news as reports on what politicians might do, may do, or should do, and we don't usually mention the murders, kidnappings, house fires, auto wrecks, celebrity crap, wacky fluff, and other nonsense that's pushed real news right out of the newscasts.


Disclaimer for dummies:  Our front page is free from nudity, but we make no promise on profanity. If your surfing is monitored this site might not be safe for work, and you may be shocked, offended, or in trouble with your boss. A link doesn't imply that we agree with every sentence and every sentiment on every site we link to. We use our noggins, and suggest you use yours.

We always welcome comments from readers, and we're especially interested in hearing and considering different perspectives, so please don't be shy. All we ask is that you conduct yourself sanely and civilly, so consider yourself invited to speak your mind.

You can contact Helen & Harry at <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.

Anything sent to Unknown News may be published. If you don't want it published, say so plainly. When we publish incoming emails, we usually edit out the sender's last name, email address, or anything else that would tend to identify the author in the real world (if we slip up, please let us know). But if your email is unambiguously intended only to annoy, insult, or threaten us, we'll publish it with all the details and leave it on-line forever.


We're not at all interested  in Area 51, the Bilderberg Group, the Bohemian Grove, the Club of Rome, the Council on Foreign Relations, the evil plot behind vaccinations, denial of evolution or global climate change or the holocaust, eyeballs inside pyramids, flying saucers, FreeMasons, Vince Foster's suicide, anyone named Gosselin, the Illuminati, JFK's assassination, the New World Order, the North American Union or its alleged Amero, Barack Obama's birth certificate, Planet X, President Obama's birthplace or his fascism or communism or whatever other rot they're pushing on Fox News, prophecies of the End Times, Protocols of the Elders, the Rockefellers, Rosicrucians, Rothchilds, Skull & Bones, space aliens, technologies supposedly suppressed, the Trilateral Commission, theories you don't really understand about the collapse of the World Trade Center, or the latest fake news we've already debunked. Emails about these and similar matters will be chuckled at but quickly deleted.

We never knowingly link to sites that allow "news" to be posted without editorial control, nor to amateur sites where we've seen easily debunked "news" in the past. We never link to 'news' from unreliable sources such as americanfreepress.net, Art Bell, Brasscheck, cloakanddagger.ca, Dandelion Books, Tom Flocco, Free World Alliance, David Icke, Alex Jones, Lyndon LaRouche, Wayne Madsen, Henry Makow, Al Martin, Prison Planet, Sherman Skolnick, Edgar Steele, Webster Tarpley, truthseeker.co.uk, or your brother-in-law. Due to time constraints, if you send links or references to such sources we'll be unable to take you or your comments seriously.

Please don't email us unless you're sending an original communication that you're not sending to anyone or everyone else. If you add us to your mailing list or chat group without asking us first, or if you send "Dear friend" newsletters, or "link exchange" form letters, or if you send a press release every time you add a post to your blog, you're a spammer and we'll soon block your emails.

Also, as a matter of security, we don't open emails from strangers which include attachments or have any kind of programming imbedded, and we recommend a similar policy for others. If you're sending us an email, please send it in plain text only.

Subscribe to our RSS feed
Our RSS feed of Unknown News headlines is updated whenever we update the site. Click the orange button for more information, or just get the feed at   http://unknownnews.org/ RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml.
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(Enormous and eternal thanks to Doug at mistersquirrel.net, for setting up our RSS feed.)

Our privacy policy  is that we're in favor of privacy. We make no effort to track or identify anything about visitors to our website. We never share, trade, or sell email addresses. We never send spam. Our site has no pop-up ads. We never send email, except in response to readers' queries. We never send (or open) attachments of any kind, and we delete un-opened any emails received with attachments.

If you see or receive any of the above, it's not from us. It's coming from spyware you picked up elsewhere, or an "exit" pop-up from another site you have visited, or spammers mimicking our email address.

We use a freeware hit-counter, and it plants a harmless short-term cookie so visitors aren't counted again if they go to several different Unknown News pages within a short time. Our feelings won't be hurt if you reject the cookie, and you'll still be able to visit any page you wish. Other than that we don't use cookies.

If you donate or buy something we'll say thank you, and never bother you again. We do not send any reminders to re-donate or buy more stuff. Incoming emails and orders are deleted within 72 hours, and we keep no records of contact information about donors, emailers, or sticker orders.

If you use your credit card to donate or buy something, it's processed by PayPal (their privacy policies are here). We do not file or even see your credit card information.

We try to avoid  linking to sites that require logging in, so if any clicks here ask for registration or a password, please let us know and we'll try to find a not-so-nosey link to similar coverage elsewhere.

Nothing at Unknown News bounces, flashes, flickers, sings or speaks, twinkles, or moves. We try to avoid coding practices that intentionally frustrate or annoy readers.