Free Talk Live

And so the final act begins: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents are helping local authorities turn thousands of garbage collectors into a spy force that reports to the police. Critics say the program is an example of how the United States is turning into an East German-style informant society.

The Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video, according to people familiar with the matter. Justice Department officials have spoken to several online video providers, including Netflix Inc. NFLX +0.65% and Hulu LLC, those people said. Investigators have also questioned Comcast Corp., CMCSA -0.39% Time Warner Cable Inc.

In the wake of a dramatic increase in deaths at the hands of U.S border patrol agents, the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to launch a long-awaited investigation into the agency’s use of force. Since 2010, border agents have killed at least 18 people, including Valeria "Munique" Tachiquin, slain by a Border Patrol agent on September 28 in broad daylight several miles north of California’s border with Mexico. Tachiquin was a U.S. citizen and mother of five children. Her family is now brings a wrongful death lawsuit against the Border Patrol.

A Massachusetts woman says the FBI used a chain saw blade to cut through her door and held her at gunpoint for at least 30 minutes before agents realized they were conducting a raid at the wrong home. She says she was held face-down on the floor at gunpoint while her 3-year-old daughter Ji’anni cried in another room. It turns out agents were after the other tenant on the floor of the multi-unit building who was suspected of dealing drugs. The raid was called Operation Red Wolf, a two-year investigation into drugs and weapons, WHDH.com reported.

According to a hand-out distributed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the Justice Department, “extremist literature distributed at the mall or posted on public bulletin boards” is suspicious and a potential indicator of terrorist activities.

The Justice Department said Thursday that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County is not cooperating in an investigation into whether his department has used racial profiling in sweeps to catch illegal immigrants.

Sylvie Nelson's border crossings are anything but routine. Customs agents sometimes order her out of her car. Twice, they handcuffed her in front of her young children. Once, agents swarmed her car and handcuffed her husband, too.

She tells them: It's not me you want, it's a man with the same birth date and a similar name. Agents always confirm that and let her go.

Then it happens again. And again.

A Cafe near Sea-Tac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) has banned TSA Agents from entering. On occasion they have even called the police to have agents removed. According to the Cafe about 90% of customers, and even the police, believe that they are doing the right thing.