Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Homeland Security Moves Forward with ‘Pre-Crime’ Detection
October 8th, 2011Via: Cnet: An internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security document indicates that a controversial program designed to predict whether a person will commit a crime is already being tested on some members of the public voluntarily, CNET has learned. If this sounds a bit like the Tom Cruise movie called “Minority Report,” or the CBS […]
FBI to Launch Nationwide Facial Recognition Service
October 8th, 2011Via: Nextgov: The FBI by mid-January will activate a nationwide facial recognition service in select states that will allow local police to identify unknown subjects in photos, bureau officials told Nextgov. The federal government is embarking on a multiyear, $1 billion dollar overhaul of the FBI’s existing fingerprint database to more quickly and accurately identify […]
Georgia May Use Prisoners to Fill Farm Labor Gap
October 7th, 2011Via: AP: State officials have set their sights on another potential pool of workers to help bridge Georgia’s severe farm labor gap: prisoners. The idea is to put nonviolent inmates — who are spending the end of their prison terms at one of the state’s 13 transitional centers — to work picking fruits and vegetables […]
Feds Target Pot Dispensaries for Closure
October 6th, 2011The government and the pharmaceutical industry don’t like the competition. Via: AP: Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state’s 15-year-old medical marijuana […]
Secret U.S. Panel Puts Americans on ‘Kill List’
October 6th, 2011Hopey Changey. Via: Reuters: American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior U.S. government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to U.S. officials. There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset […]
Against the Institution: A Warning for ‘Occupy Wall Street’
October 6th, 2011Via: Andrew Gavin Marshall: While I fully endorse the efforts and actions of the Occupy Wall Street protests, now emerging internationally, there are concerns which need to be addressed and kept in mind as the movement moves forward. The process through which a potentially powerful movement may be co-opted and controlled is slight and subtle. […]
Flashback: Citigroup Plutonomy Memos
October 6th, 2011I was pretty sure that I’d posted these long ago, but I’m not finding them in my archives. In short: The rich are getting richer, so Citi advised buying a basket of stocks of companies that cater to very wealthy people. Via: Monkeyfister: …the rich are the dominant source of income, wealth and demand in […]
Introducing Siri: DARPA’s Ghost in Apple’s Machine
October 5th, 2011So their eyes are growing hazy cos they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy, well… give em what they want —10,000 Maniacs – Candy Everybody Wants One of the stocks that I used to kick around in the 1990s was that of a now long dead company called General […]
Denmark Introduces ‘Fat Tax’ on Foods High in Saturated Fat
October 4th, 2011Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig Via: ABC: Denmark has introduced what’s believed to be the world’s first fat food tax, applying a surcharge to foods with more than 2.3 percent saturated fats, in an effort to combat obesity and heart disease. Danes hoarded food before the tax went into effect Saturday, emptying grocery […]
Putin Wants to Build ‘Eurasian Union’
October 4th, 2011Via: Reuters: Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a “Eurasian Union” in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country’s next president. Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus […]
