Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
“Starting tomorrow, we’re going to start searching your crotchal area”
November 1st, 2010Via: The Atlantic: At BWI, I told the officer who directed me to the back-scatter that I preferred a pat-down. I did this in order to see how effective the manual search would be. When I made this request, a number of TSA officers, to my surprise, began laughing. I asked why. One of them […]
Fraudclosure: ‘When you save broken companies from their own incompetence, this is what you get.’
October 29th, 2010Via: The Big Picture: The banks have gotten the Big Lie technique down to a science: State a lie so colossal that no one could believe anyone “has the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” In practice, adding factually accurate, but irrelevant or misleading color, helps push the lie on unsuspecting rubes. The banks […]
And Now… Cheap Fluoride from China Leaves Unknown, Insoluble Residue in Municipal Water Systems
October 29th, 2010Update: Multiple Tests Can’t Determine What The Material Is? Via: The Daily News (Newburyport) on Fluoride Action Network: Desmarais said while soluble sodium fluoride has traditionally proved easy to dissolve and add to the water supply, in recent years he’s found that 40 percent of the product they’ve been buying will not dissolve, and he […]
Britain: No Terror Arrests in 100,000 Police Counter-Terror Searches
October 29th, 2010Via: Guardian: More than 100,000 people were stopped and searched by police under counter-terrorism powers last year but none of them were arrested for terrorism-related offences, according to Home Office figures published today. The statistics show that 504 people out of the 101,248 searches were arrested for any offence – an arrest rate of 0.5%, […]
Overall U.S. Intelligence Budget: $80.1 Billion
October 29th, 2010Does the number include all of the special access programs? Via: Los Angeles Times: The U.S. government on Thursday disclosed for the first time in more than a decade what it spent in total on intelligence gathering in the fiscal year that just ended: $80.1 billion. That’s more than the U.S. spent on the Department […]
TSA Rolling Out New “Hand Sliding” Pat-Down Technique at Airports
October 29th, 2010Homeland Security rubdown? Via: AP: The Transportation Security Administration is changing the way it pats down passengers at airports — moving from the screener’s traditional hand pat to more of a hand-sliding motion, a law enforcement official said Thursday. The TSA regularly reviews and updates its screening procedures, agency spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. And screeners […]
Private Prison Interests Behind Arizona Immigration Law
October 29th, 2010“I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.” —Fight Club Via: NPR: Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal. Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch. “The gentleman that’s the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise […]
‘Coal Country’ Documentary, Aired on Planet Green, Called Potential Threat by PA Dept of Homeland Security
October 28th, 2010Via: Treehugger: I don’t know if we should be flattered or scared: It’s come to TreeHugger’s attention that Coal Country, a documentary which originally aired on Planet Green’s Reel Impact series of programing last November, was singled out at the time as a potential security threat by the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security…
Afghanistan: Russia Steps in to Help NATO
October 28th, 2010Rare earth minerals for everyone who helps NATO steal them. In other news: Coalition Win Impossible: Gorbachev. Via: Independent: Russia has agreed to return to the war in Afghanistan at the request of the Western states which helped the mujahedin to drive its forces out of the country 21 years ago. The Independent has learnt […]
World’s Fastest Supercomputer… Is In China
October 28th, 2010Via: Nvidia Press Release: Tianhe-1A, a new supercomputer revealed today at HPC 2010 China, has set a new performance record of 2.507 petaflops, as measured by the LINPACK benchmark, making it the fastest system in China and in the world today. … Tianhe-1A was designed by the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in China. […]
