Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Bernankecare
November 19th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: The Federal Reserve’s near-zero interest rate turns five years old next month, the longest period without an increase in history. Coupled with more than $3 trillion of asset purchases, it adds up to “Bernankecare,” said Joshua Brown, chief executive officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management in New York. And it’s causing parts of the […]
Private Firms Selling Mass Surveillance Systems Around World
November 19th, 2013Via: Guardian: Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that “off the shelf” equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls, according to a cache of documents published on Monday. The papers show how firms, including dozens from Britain, tout […]
Bloomberg News Suspends Reporter Whose Article on China Was Not Published
November 18th, 2013Via: New York Times: A reporter for Bloomberg News who worked on an unpublished article about China, which employees for the company said had been killed for political reasons by top Bloomberg editors, was suspended last week by managers. The reporter, Michael Forsythe, was based in Hong Kong and has written award-winning investigative articles on […]
NSA Links to St Petersburg Florida Drug Ring
November 17th, 2013Via: Mad Cow Morning News: Skyway Global LLC, the St. Petersburg, FL company that owned the DC-9 airline busted in Mexico carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine, made its headquarters in a 79,000 sq ft building owned by Verint Systems (NASDAQ: VRNT), a foreign tele-communications company with a contract to wiretap the U.S. for the NSA […]
Timothy Geithner Heads to Private Equity Firm Warburg Pincus
November 16th, 2013Via: Politico: Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a trusted lieutenant to President Barack Obama who played a leading role in the government’s response to the financial crisis, will join private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC in March. On Saturday, the firm, which is headquartered in New York, announced Geithner will hold the titles of president and […]
TSA SPOT Program: Billion Dollar Magic 8 Ball
November 16th, 2013Via: GAO: Available evidence does not support whether behavioral indicators, which are used in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program, can be used to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security. GAO reviewed four meta-analyses (reviews that analyze other studies and synthesize their findings) that […]
U.S. Military May Have 10 Robots Per Soldier by 2023
November 16th, 2013Via: Computerworld: American soldiers patrolling dangerous streets will soon be accompanied by autonomous robots programmed to scan the area with thermal imaging and send live images back to the command center. Likewise, squads of infantrymen hiking through mountains will be helped by a wagon train of robots carrying extra water, ammo and protective gear.
Amazon Will Build and Manage Cloud Infrastructure in CIA Facility
November 16th, 2013Via: Networkworld: Amazon Web Services recently won a reported $600 million contract to build the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) a cloud. But that cloud will not look like any other cloud on the planet. Given the sensitive nature of building an IT operation for one of the United States’ most secretive organizations, details about […]
CIA Collecting Data on International Money Transfers
November 14th, 2013Via: New York Times: The Central Intelligence Agency is secretly collecting bulk records of international money transfers handled by companies like Western Union — including transactions into and out of the United States — under the same law that the National Security Agency uses for its huge database of Americans’ phone records, according to current […]
Obamacare Wreck
November 14th, 2013Wow. Via: Reuters: President Barack Obama on Thursday tried to ease the biggest crisis of his presidency, acknowledging missteps with his signature healthcare law and announcing a plan to help those seeing their current health plans canceled because of it. Obama, trying to limit the political damage to his presidency and fellow Democrats, said health […]
