Archive for November, 2011
Sirhan Sirhan Lawyers: ‘Hypno Programming and Memory Implantation Techniques’
November 28th, 2011Via: CNN: Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of the 1968 assassination of presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, should be freed from prison or granted a new trial based on “formidable evidence” asserting his innocence and “horrendous violations” of his rights, defense attorneys said in federal court papers filed this week. In a U.S. District Court brief, […]
U.S. Air Force Wants Gunfire Sensor for Reaper Drones
November 28th, 2011Via: Wired: Opening fire on American troops could mean an instant death sentence for insurgents, if an ambitious new Air Force plan works out. The flying branch has asked industry to develop a new heat and motion sensor capable of detecting enemy gunfire from 25,000 feet over the battlefield — and then swiftly directing a […]
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13 Billion
November 28th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined […]
Lots of Cops in Riot Gear at Occupy Los Angeles
November 28th, 2011Update: A Few Arrests Via: Los Angeles Times: The Los Angeles Police Department arrested several people Monday morning as it worked to deal with a swelling crowd that came to protest the planned eviction of Occupy L.A. campers on the lawn of City Hall. When the LAPD announced that it wanted the campers out by […]
Senate Bill 1867: U.S. Military Would Be Able to Indefinitely Detain American Civilians Without Charge or Trial Anywhere in the World
November 28th, 2011Update: Senate Rejects Effort to Ease Terrorist Detainee Policy in Defense Bill Via: The Hill: The Senate rejected an amendment on Tuesday that would have removed a provision from the pending Defense spending bill to toughen U.S. policy towards suspected terrorists captured on the battlefield or on the home front. —End Update— Via: ACLU: The […]
New Zealand: 1 Million Didn’t Bother to Vote
November 28th, 2011Update: National Almost Beaten by The Abstention Party Via: New Zealand Herald: Voter turnout in the general election was an historic low of 68.8% of eligible voters. An argument can be made that the National Party was almost beaten by The Abstention Party, which won 31.2% of the (non)-vote. Once you take into account the […]
What Really Happened to Strauss-Kahn?
November 27th, 2011Via: The New York Review of Books: The man I asked to talk to—and to whom I was not put through—was René-Georges Querry, Sheehan’s ultimate superior at Accor and a well-connected former chief of the French anti-gang brigades, who was now head of security for the Accor Group. Before joining Accor Group in 2003, he […]
BRITISH EMBASSIES READYING CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR COLLAPSE OF THE EURO
November 27th, 2011Via: Telegraph: British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain. As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the […]
The Future of Airport Security: Thermal Lie-Detectors and Cloned Sniffer Dogs
November 27th, 2011Via: CNN: After the EU’s announcement that it will ban “backscatter” x-ray body scanners, airports may have to look harder at alternative security measures. From Bluetooth tracking to thermal lie-detector cameras, we take a glimpse into the weird and wonderful future of airport security. The check-point of the future Earlier this year, the International Air […]
PayPal’s Links to Palantir, a Metasearch Technology Used by Intelligence, Law Enforcement and Military Organizations
November 27th, 2011And guess where they’re located? That’s right: Facebook’s former building. I couldn’t make it up if I tried. Via: Bloomberg: An organization like the CIA or FBI can have thousands of different databases, each with its own quirks: financial records, DNA samples, sound samples, video clips, maps, floor plans, human intelligence reports from all over […]
