Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
FBI Adds People to No Fly List for Refusing to Become Informants
April 23rd, 2014Via: The Guardian: Naveed Shinwari hasn’t seen his wife in 26 months. He suspects it’s because he refused to become an informant for the FBI. In February 2012 Shinwari, who has lived in the US since he was 14, flew to Afghanistan to get married. He says that before he could get home to Omaha, […]
Washington State School District Sets Up ‘Homeland Security Class’
April 23rd, 2014Via: Storyleak: The Department of Homeland Security is partnering with a Washington state school district to recruit future employees through a new high school curriculum. An employment application posted by Evergreen Public Schools this weekend requests a certified “Homeland Security Instructor” to steer young students into a career with the agency. “Instruct high school juniors […]
Pentagon’s Superpowered Autopilot Will Do the Work of 5 Crew Members
April 22nd, 2014Via: Wired: Some think that the Defense Department couldn’t possibly reduce its forces as much as it claims it will. After all, who would fly the planes? Now DARPA has an answer. The Pentagon’s research arm is developing a sophisticated, drop-in autopilot that can replace as many as five crew members of a military aircraft, […]
Western Lawmakers Gather in Utah to Talk Federal Land Takeover
April 19th, 2014Via: The Salt Lake Tribune: It’s time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday. More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-, […]
China Just Revealed a Major State Secret: Nearly 20% of Its Farmland Is Polluted
April 18th, 2014Does one double or triple this number to approach the reality of the situation? Via: Quartz: Almost one-fifth of China’s farmland is polluted, according to a government report released this week. Officials have acknowledged the country’s problems with water and air pollution, but the extent of soil contamination has been a closely guarded “state secret,” […]
The New Cop on the Beat May Be a Bot
April 18th, 2014Via: Time: A Silicon Valley company called Knightscope is currently testing a prototype robot designed to detect and monitor criminal activity, much the way a police officer or a security guard would. The Knightscope K5 is a five-foot-tall autonomous robot (one presumes that its resemblance to a Dalek is merely coincidental) that roams around your […]
Reid: Bundy Supporters Are “Domestic Terrorists”
April 18th, 2014Via: CBS: Supporters of Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy have been called domestic terrorists by Senator Harry Reid. He made the comments during an appearance at a Review-Journal event, and repeated them, saying “what happened there was domestic terrorism’ The government says Bundy owes more than a million dollars in grazing fees and fines stemming from […]
Heroin a Growing Threat Across USA, Police Say
April 17th, 2014In other news, Afghanistan Opium Harvest at Record High: Afghan opium cultivation has reached a record level, with more than 200,000 hectares planted with the poppy for the first time, the United Nations says. The UNODC report said the harvest was 36% up on last year, and if fully realised would outstrip global demand. Most […]
America’s Coup Machine: Destroying Democracy Since 1953
April 16th, 2014Via: AlterNet: Soon after the 2004 U.S. coup to depose President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, I heard Aristide’s lawyer Ira Kurzban speaking in Miami. He began his talk with a riddle: “Why has there never been a coup in Washington D.C.?” The answer: “Because there is no U.S. Embassy in Washington D.C.” This introduction was […]
FBI Plans to Have 52 Million Photos in its NGI Face Recognition Database by Next Year
April 16th, 2014Via: EFF: New documents released by the FBI show that the Bureau is well on its way toward its goal of a fully operational face recognition database by this summer. EFF received these records in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on Next Generation Identification (NGI)—the FBI’s massive biometric database that […]
