Archive for the 'Elite' Category
Facebook Paid £2.9 Million Tax on £840 Million Profits Made Outside U.S.
December 29th, 2012Via: Guardian: Facebook has become the latest multinational to come under the spotlight for its tax affairs after figures revealed it paid just £2.9m in tax on profits of more than more than £800m. Filings for Facebook Ireland, through which all of the social network’s profits outside the US are channelled, show it paid the […]
Petition to Eliminate Armed Guards for the President, Vice-President, and Their Families, and Establish Gun Free Zones Around Them
December 27th, 2012*chortle* Via: whitehouse.gov: Gun Free Zones are supposed to protect our children, and some politicians wish to strip us of our right to keep and bear arms. Those same politicians and their families are currently under the protection of armed Secret Service agents. If Gun Free Zones are sufficient protection for our children, then Gun […]
Congress Uses School Massacre Hysteria as Distraction to Restore Indefinite Detention for Americans
December 20th, 2012Via: Huffington Post: Congress stripped a provision Tuesday from a defense bill that aimed to shield Americans from the possibility of being imprisoned indefinitely without trial by the military. The provision was replaced with a passage that appears to give citizens little protection from indefinite detention. The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of […]
The Economic Return of Iceland Has Proved That the Joke Was on Ireland
December 20th, 2012Via: Irish Independent: WAY back in the autumn of 2008, the joke in financial circles was that the only difference between Ireland and Iceland was a letter and six months. Now, with the Icelandic banks preparing to issue foreign currency bonds once again, it turns out that the joke was on us. Remember when the […]
U.S. Taxpayers Likely to Lose Billions of Dollars on GM Bailout
December 20th, 2012Via: Detroit News: The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares — or 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. — back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit the Detroit automaker by March 2014. The Detroit automaker said it will purchase 200 million shares of GM […]
How Wal-Mart Used Payoffs to Get Its Way in Mexico
December 18th, 2012Via: New York Times: Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda’s alfalfa field. It was an ideal location, just off this town’s bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world. With its usual precision, Wal-Mart calculated it would attract 250 customers an hour if only […]
UBS Faces $1 Billion+ Fine Over LIBOR Rate Rigging
December 17th, 2012$1.5 Billion Fine Via: BBC: Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate. It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay $450m to UK and US authorities in the […]
NOT CONFIRMED: John Kerry to Be Nominated to Be Secretary of State
December 16th, 2012Via: ABC News: Sources tell ABC News that President Obama has decided that he will nominate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be secretary of state. For a variety of reasons including the finalization of the process, other pending Cabinet decisions, and — more immediately — the national reaction to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook […]
Kurzweil Joins Google
December 15th, 2012Via: kurzweilai.net Ray Kurzweil confirmed today that he will be joining Google to work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing. “I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining Google as Director of Engineering this Monday, December 17,” said Kurzweil.
And Now… ‘Conservation Drones’
December 8th, 2012Via: Mother Jones: First things first: No, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is not using drones to vaporize poachers. But thanks to a five million dollar grant awarded by Google on Tuesday, the organization is expanding its use of unmanned aerial vehicles to track and deter criminals who illegally hunt endangered animal species around the […]
