Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Wife of Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz Takes Leave from Goldman Sachs
March 24th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Heidi Cruz, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Houston, has taken an unpaid leave from her private wealth-management job to help with her husband’s campaign for the U.S. presidency, a person familiar with the matter said. Ted Cruz, 44, a Republican senator from Texas, said on Twitter early Monday morning […]
“Pentagon Loses Track of $500 Million in Weapons, Equipment Given to Yemen”
March 24th, 2015Another U.S. arms drop to ISIS/al-Qaeda. Via: Washington Post: The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen, amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials. With Yemen in turmoil and […]
France Decrees New Commercial Buildings Must Be Partially Covered in Plants or Solar Panels
March 20th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — While I’d be thrilled to see more commercial buildings with plants and solar panels on top of them, I’m not so thrilled with the strong arm legislation used to get there. On the overall scheme of things, green rooftops and solar panel systems would be […]
Google’s New Facial Recognition System
March 19th, 2015Via: Fortune: New advances in facial recognition are a step forward for an artificial intelligence technique called deep learning. “I never forget a face,” some people like to boast. It’s a claim that looks quainter by the day as artificial intelligence research continues to advance. Some computers, it turns out, never forget 260 million faces. […]
Change We Can Believe In: U.S. Sets New Record for Denying Federal Files Under Freedom of Information Act
March 18th, 2015Via: Guardian: The US has set a new record for denying and censoring federal files under the Freedom of Information Act, analysis by the Associated Press reveals. For the second consecutive year, the Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them under the open-government legislation. The government took […]
Putin Puts Troops on Full Alert in Snap Western Russia Drills
March 16th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops placed on full combat readiness in snap drills in western Russia, as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned the country was facing new threats to its security. Some 38,000 troops, 41 warships, 15 submarines and 110 aircraft are involved in the exercises, Shoigu said on Monday, according to […]
France to Keep 10,000 Troops on Streets
March 16th, 2015Via: Russia Today: As the threat of attacks by Islamist extremists remains high in France, President Francois Hollande has decided to continue the deployment of 10,000 troops on the streets across the country. “The threat of terrorist attack against our country remains high. The head of state has decided to maintain the level of the […]
New Smoking Gun Further Ties NSA to Omnipotent “Equation Group” Hackers
March 11th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Researchers from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab have uncovered more evidence tying the US National Security Agency to a nearly omnipotent group of hackers who operated undetected for at least 14 years. The Kaspersky researchers once again stopped short of saying the hacking collective they dubbed Equation Group was the handiwork of the NSA, […]
The CIA Helped Develop Planes that Scrape Cell Phone Data
March 10th, 2015Via: The Verge: The US may be using cellphone-sniffing planes to find suspects across the world, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. In November, the Journal revealed the US Marshal’s secret program to locate specific fugitive through airplane equipped to mimic cell towers. Flying over an urban area, the planes can […]
The CIA Campaign to Steal Apple’s Secrets
March 10th, 2015Via: First Look: RESEARCHERS WORKING with the Central Intelligence Agency have conducted a multi-year, sustained effort to break the security of Apple’s iPhones and iPads, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Intercept. The security researchers presented their latest tactics and achievements at a secret annual gathering, called the “Jamboree,” where attendees discussed strategies for […]
