Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Jeb Bush’s Foreign Policy Team Is Eerily Familiar, in One Venn Diagram
February 20th, 2015Wolfowitz. Wow. Hayden. Chertoff. Why not roll Cheney out for one last slaughter with the Legion of Doom? Via: Washington Post: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush will announce his foreign policy vision in a speech Wednesday in Chicago. Accompanying that speech is a rollout of a slate of experts who will help guide the candidate […]
The Great SIM Heist
February 19th, 2015Via: First Look: AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was […]
Record Number of Americans Gave Up Citizenship in 2014
February 11th, 2015Via: NBC: While politicians are focused on all the foreigners who want to become Americans, perhaps they should consider all the Americans who are becoming foreigners. According to the latest data from the Treasury Department, spotted by Andrew Mitchel at the International Tax Blog, a record 3,415 Americans renounced their citizenship in 2014. That was […]
Judge Rules for NSA in Warrantless Search Case
February 11th, 2015Via: Reuters: A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a lawsuit challenging the interception of Internet communications without a warrant, according to a court filing. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California wrote the plaintiffs failed to establish legal standing to pursue a claim that the government […]
U.S. to Establish New Cybersecurity Agency
February 10th, 2015Via: Reuters: The U.S. government is creating a new agency to monitor cybersecurity threats, pooling and analyzing information on a spectrum of risks, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will be an “intelligence center that will ‘connect the dots’ between various cyber threats to the nation […]
New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers
February 5th, 2015Via: Wired: Aside from using it, there’s not much you can do with modern ag equipment. When it breaks or needs maintenance, farmers are dependent on dealers and manufacturer technicians—a hard pill to swallow for farmers, who have been maintaining their own equipment since the plow. “[DIY repair] is cheaper than calling out the technician. […]
The World’s Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke
February 5th, 2015If anything is real in this area, it’s GPG. It’s a shame that most people can’t or won’t use it, even now that mass surveillance is mainstream knowledge. Via: ProPublica: The man who built the free email encryption software used by whistleblower Edward Snowden, as well as hundreds of thousands of journalists, dissidents and security-minded […]
Beijing Smog Makes City Unliveable, Says Mayor
January 29th, 2015Via: Guardian: Beijing’s mayor, Wang Anshun, has called the city “unliveable” because of its noxious smog, according to state media. “To establish a first-tier, international, liveable and harmonious city, it is very important to establish a system of standards, and Beijing is currently doing this,” he said last Friday, according to the China Youth Daily […]
How the CIA Made Google
January 27th, 2015This is a really good one. Via: Medium: Google styles itself as a friendly, funky, user-friendly tech firm that rose to prominence through a combination of skill, luck, and genuine innovation. This is true. But it is a mere fragment of the story. In reality, Google is a smokescreen behind which lurks the US military-industrial […]
S&P Cuts Russia Credit Rating to ‘Junk’
January 27th, 2015“I’d seriously consider getting her and her money out of there ASAP. You wouldn’t want her to be in Putin-Land or holding Putin-Bucks if this thing gets any worse.” —Cryptogon, August 2014 Via: AFP: Standard and Poor’s stripped Russia of its investment-grade rating on Monday, cutting it to “junk” status with a warning of weak […]
