Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Clinton: U.S. Deficit a National Security Issue
February 26th, 2010Via: Reuters: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said “outrageous” advice from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan helped create record U.S. budget deficits that put national security at risk. Appearing before congressional panels to defend the State Department’s $52.8 billion budget request for 2011, Clinton said the massive U.S. foreign debt had sapped […]
Weaponizing Mozart: How Britain Is Using Classical Music as a Form of Social Control
February 26th, 2010Via: Reason: In recent years Britain has become the Willy Wonka of social control, churning out increasingly creepy, bizarre, and fantastic methods for policing the populace. But our weaponization of classical music—where Mozart, Beethoven, and other greats have been turned into tools of state repression—marks a new low. We’re already the kings of CCTV. An […]
Senate Extends Patriot Act
February 25th, 2010Via: AP: Democrats have retreated from adding new privacy protections to the primary U.S counterterrorism law, stymied by Senate Republicans who argued the changes would weaken terror investigations. The proposed protections were cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Dashing the hopes of liberals, the Senate Wednesday night instead […]
Cryptome Forced Down Over Microsoft Law Enforcement Surveillance Compliance Document
February 25th, 2010Update: Microsoft Withdraws DMCA Complaint Against Cryptome Via: cryptome.org: Subject: DN: www.cryptome.org; Registrar: Network Solutions; Host: Network Solutions – Demand for Immediate Take Down – Notice of Infringing Activity – MS Ref. 304277 Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:22:59 -0500 From: “DMCA” To: “John Young” We would like to notify you that Microsoft has contacted […]
The Fourth Amendment is Gone. “Welcome to the fish bowl.”
February 25th, 2010Via: Reason: Last week the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an en banc rehearing of the case United States v. Lemus, which dealt with a warrantless police search of a suspect’s home after he was arrested outside of it. As a result of the 9th Circuit’s denial, the search will stand, which has left […]
New U.S. Embassy in London Will Cost $1 Billion; Yes, That Includes the Moat
February 24th, 2010Via: Times Online: The United States has unveiled plans for its new $1 billion high-security embassy in London — the most expensive it has ever built. The proposals were met with relief from both the present embassy’s Mayfair neighbours and the residents and developers of the Battersea wasteland where the vast crystalline cube, surrounded by […]
U.S. Government Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition
February 23rd, 2010Via: Slate: Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people […]
Americans Terrorists Are Now as Big a Concern as International Terrorists
February 22nd, 2010Via: Washington Post / AP: Americans who turn to terrorism and plot against the U.S. are now as big a concern as international terrorists, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.
The Digital Dictatorship
February 22nd, 2010If you pretend that the author is referring to the U.S. when he mentions countries like Iran and the former East Germany, this is much more informative. Via: Wall Street Journal: Since the publication of John Perry Barlow’s “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” in 1996, they have been led to believe that cyberspace is […]
Ousted GM CEO Fritz Henderson Rehired As Consultant, Earns $60K A Month
February 22nd, 2010Via: Car Connection: After having been very publicly ejected from the company late last year, former GM CEO Fritz Henderson has been reinstated with a cushy consulting role less than three months on. In early December, 2009 Henderson was asked by the then Chairman of the Board, Ed Whitacre, to resign just days before he […]
