Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
EPA Bans Most Wood-Burning Stoves
November 8th, 2013Tell me another one. Via: Off The Grid News: Wood-burning stoves offer warmth and enhance off-grid living options during cold weather months, but the tried-and-true heating devices now are under attack by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has banned the production and sale of the types of stoves used by about 80 percent of […]
CIA Pays AT&T $10 Million Per Year for Access to Call Data
November 8th, 2013Via: New York Times: The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials. The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the […]
Snowden Pulled Off NSA Document Heist—Using Oldest Trick in the Book?
November 8th, 2013Two-step verification? Via: Reuters: Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden used login credentials and passwords provided unwittingly by colleagues at a spy base in Hawaii to access some of the classified material he leaked to the media, sources said. A handful of agency employees who gave their login details to Snowden were identified, […]
Oregon: Students Limited to Walking or Running Around a Track at Recess
November 7th, 2013Via: Mail Tribune: Parents and kids of Jacksonville Elementary School say physical fitness shouldn’t be limited to endless circles on the school’s track in order to comply with the state’s physical education mandates. Andy Kranenburg, an orthopedic surgeon with two sons at the school, was one of several parents and grandparents who spoke in defense […]
iPads Banned from Cabinet Meetings Over Surveillance Fears
November 6th, 2013Oh yeah, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan. *wink* In other news: NSA Can Access Data on All Smartphones Via: Telegraph: The securities services fear foreign intelligence agencies have developed the ability to turn mobile devices such as phones and tablets into bugs without the owner’s knowledge, allowing them to eavesdrop on confidential meetings. iPads were […]
FBI Seeks Video Recognition Technology to Automatically ID Suspects
November 5th, 2013Via: Nextgov: The FBI is weighing the use of video recognition technology to quickly identify suspects, even if all the camera has captured is a perpetrator’s limp or fraying blue baseball cap. Think of it as automated police lineups for the YouTube generation. While investigators manually scoured video to identify the suspected Boston Marathon bombers, […]
Security Check Now Starts Long Before You Fly
November 4th, 2013Via: New York Times: The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information. While the agency says that the goal is to streamline the security procedures for millions […]
U.S. Nuclear Upgrade Over the Next Decade: $350 Billion to $400 Billion
November 4th, 2013Via: Reuters: The U.S. nuclear arsenal needs a multi-billion dollar overhaul in the coming decade to ensure the weapons’ safety and effectiveness, defense officials said on Tuesday, despite warnings from arms control groups that the effort is unaffordable and unnecessary. Assistant Defense Secretary Madelyn Creedon told a panel in the U.S. House of Representatives that […]
Obamacare Open Thread
November 4th, 2013Do we need an Obamacare open thread? Here it is, just in case.
Three Guys Built a Better Healthcare.gov
November 3rd, 2013Via: The Atlantic Wire: The Affordable Health Care act rollout was an unmitigated disaster thanks in large part to a cluttered website that both didn’t work and was offensively ugly. Maybe things would not have gone so poorly if HealthCare.gov looked something like this. No one knows the resources that went into building HealthCare.gov, but […]
