Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Is Saddam Hussein’s Fortune in a Warehouse in Moscow?
October 1st, 2013Via: Daily Mail: A cargo of 20 billion euros in cash (£16.75billion) has lain unclaimed at a Moscow airport for six years amid allegations it could be the secret fortune of Saddam Hussein. The stash, now under high security in a cargo depot, is held on 200 wooden pallets each worth 100 million euros, enough […]
The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act
October 1st, 2013Via: Vote Hemp: Vote Hemp and the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), the nation’s leading hemp grassroots advocacy organization and industry trade group, respectively, each working to revitalize industrial hemp production and processing in the U.S., are excited to report that Governor Jerry Brown has signed SB 566, the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act. After moving […]
Navy Research Blimp Hovering Over Maryland
September 30th, 2013[???] Via: CBS: The U.S. Navy research laboratory says the blimp is a government research airship conducting aerial mapping, and that the MZ-3A lighter than air blimp began roaming above the D.C. area on Sept. 21 and can remain stationary for more than 12 hours. The blimp is mapping in the flight restriction zones around […]
To Protect and Serve? MRAPS Come Home
September 28th, 2013Via: Dallas Observer: Now that the war in Iraq is officially over and the one in Afghanistan winding down, the Department of Defense found itself facing a conundrum. It had just spent billions of dollars buying heavily armored personnel carriers designed to stand up to insurgent attacks only to find that it had run out […]
NSA Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens
September 28th, 2013Via: New York Times: Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials. The spy […]
Say Hello to Rick Ross
September 26th, 2013Via: Esquire: Back in the day, Ross would offer the same deal with crack cocaine — to start you out, he’d give you $100 worth for free and you could sell it for $300. Between 1982 and 1989, federal prosecutors estimated, Ross bought and resold three tons of cocaine. In 1980 dollars, his gross earnings […]
How Does Obamacare Affect Americans Living Abroad?
September 26th, 2013*phew* For now, anyway… However, about 3/4 of Cryptogon readers will be affected by this, so… Via: Yahoo: If you’re living outside the US, you don’t have to purchase health insurance by the end of March, 2014, through what will be the newly established health insurance marketplaces in each state. And unlike other citizens residing […]
Criminal: How Lockup Quotas and “Low-Crime Taxes” Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations
September 25th, 2013Via: In the Public Interest: This report discusses the use of prison bed occupancy guarantee clauses in prison privatization contracts and explores how bed occupancy guarantees undermine criminal justice policy and democratic, accountable government. The report sheds light on the for-profit private prison industry’s reliance on high prison populations, and how these occupancy guarantee provisions […]
Israeli Soldiers Throw Sound Grenades at EU Diplomats Bringing Aid to Displaced Palestinian Families
September 25th, 2013Via: Tikkun Daily: A Palestinian village home to 120 people had its houses, kindergarten and shepherding stables demolished this week by Israeli authorities. This came after the Supreme Court ruled its inhabitants – some of whom have lived on the land for generations – didn’t have proper building permits. The Palestinian Bedouin village of Khirbet […]
The Senate Is Busy Creating a Privileged 1st Amendment Club for ‘Official’ Journalists
September 25th, 2013Via: Alternet: On September 12, 2013, the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee narrowly defined who the law should consider to be a journalist, by amending the proposed Free Flow of Information Act (“FFIA”). The FFIA is a “shield law” that protects journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources when confronted with court subpoenas. The amendment […]
