ARS Technica – by Cyrus Farivar

The Boston Police Department (BPD) has indefinitely halted its use of license plate readers (LPR) following an investigation published on Saturday into their use by the investigative journalism organization MuckRock and the Boston Globe.

David Estrada, a BPD spokesperson, confirmed to Ars that the department had stopped using its LPRs for now and asked that further questions be submitted in writing, which Ars has done.   Continue reading “Boston Police indefinitely suspends license plate reader program”

New York Times – by JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas have joined Google’s growing robot menagerie.

Google confirmed on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has gained an international reputation for machines that walk with an uncanny sense of balance and even — cheetahlike — run faster than the fastest humans.   Continue reading “Google Adds to Its Menagerie of Robots”

Lunar surfaceBBC – by Paul Rincon

China says it has successfully landed a craft carrying a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon, a major step in its programme of space exploration.

On Saturday afternoon (GMT), a landing module underwent a powered descent, using thrusters to perform the first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years.

Several hours later, the lander will deploy a robotic rover called Yutu, which translates as “Jade Rabbit”.   Continue reading “China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon”

robot phoneActivist Post

Time Magazine is investigating a healthcare telemarketing firm who has been using an amazingly realistic robot caller which seems to operate on advanced and a bit creepy artificial intelligence.

The Florida firm Premier Health Plans Inc. is responsible for “employee” Samantha West heard in the exchanges below.  After cleverly filibustering, she repeatedly insists she’s a real person and not a robot.   Continue reading “LISTEN: Creepy AI Telemarketer Sounds Human, Denies Being a Robot”

JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The final version of the congressional defense budget triples the Obama administration’s request for funding for joint U.S.-Israel defense cooperation.

The $284 million in the budget released jointly on Dec. 10 by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate budget committees – up from the $96 million requested by the Obama administration – includes funding for the Arrow long-range anti-missile system and the David’s Sling and Iron Dome missile defense systems.   Continue reading “Congress triples Obama’s request on defense cooperation with Israel”

The Conservative Post -by Ronak Kallianpur

If there has ever been a speech that everyone needs to see regarding Obama’s plan to take our guns. This is the one!

In this clip we see an army vet that serves as a police officer speak to the motion to repeal the ‘Safe’ act at the Dutchess County Legislature New York State.

His name is Aaron Weiss and he has quite a bit say. At some points he even tears up. It isn’t until he speaks on his friend’s passing away in war that his emotions get the best of him.   Continue reading “It Only Took This Army Vet 3 Minutes To Destroy Obama’s Gun Control Plan”

6WeekCycle

December 13, 2013 – Arapahoe High School Shooting

Shooter – currently unknown Two teens were injured Friday during a shooting at a suburban Denver high school by a fellow student, who then took his own life. The shooting – on the eve of the anniversary of the Newtown school massacre in which 20 students and six staffers were murdered (NA MEME) – sent […]   Continue reading “The Six Week Cycle”

David Hague

Dear reader put away your charts and graphs. Forget about fundamental and technical analysis. Ignore financial statements and trends.  The extraordinary agreement to share information between the National Security Agency [NSA], a host of European, Russian, Canadian and Chinese spy agencies and the world’s Central Banks will ensure that the only relevant force in Global Stock markets will be the trading activity of the world’s Central Banks. Thanks to the data gathering of the NSA and its subsidiary spy agencies around the world, the Central Banks will be privy to the most confidential conversations and communications from the boardroom, the bedroom and the trading floor. Central Banks will now be able to trade with inside information that could only be dreamed about in years gone by.   Continue reading “NSA inks landmark deal to share information with Central Banks”

USS CowpensFree Beacon – by Bill Gertz

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.   Continue reading “Chinese Naval Vessel Tries to Force U.S. Warship to Stop in International Waters”

Space Wars

U.S. lawmakers have approved boosting funding for Israel’s missile defense program by $173 million in fiscal 2014 as the Jewish state’s military establishment draws up a new defense doctrine to protect cities from Hezbollah’s growing missile arsenal.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli military intelligence now believes that the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement now possesses around 5,000 long-range missiles that can reach Tel Aviv, the country’s largest conurbation, and carry warheads packing between 1,300 pounds and one ton of explosives.   Continue reading “U.S. to boost Israel defense missile funding by $173M”

flare added people prayingIf every Christian in the united States of America prayed this prayer nightly,choruses in Heaven would sing of our praises and of our wish. . . . and our Father would provide.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come to you today with praises. You are my God, and the God. The Maker of heavens and earth, all living creatures, all growing things. Father, You created the world from nothing but a thought, a word, a wish. You are imperially powerful, without a fault, unfathomably unstoppable, and all knowing.   Continue reading “Christians Unite in Power Prayer”

Newsroom America

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Merrill Lynch with making faulty disclosures about collateral selection for two collateralized debt obligations (CDO) that it structured and marketed to investors, and maintaining inaccurate books and records for a third CDO.

Merrill Lynch agreed to pay $131.8 million to settle the SEC’s charges.   Continue reading “SEC Charges Merrill Lynch With Misleading Investors in CDOs”

NBC Connecticut

Five months after their friend was killed in a crash in Glastonbury, Conn., police have arrested three 17-year-old boys who are accused of letting her drive drunk.

Police said the boys knew Jane Modlesky, 17, of Glastonbury, was “highly intoxicated” when she got behind the wheel of an SUV early on the morning of Sunday, July 14 and hit a tree on Woodhaven Road.   Continue reading “Teens Arrested for Letting Friend Drive Drunk Before Fatal Crash”

The Telegraph

NASHUA – A federal program that helps more than 1,000 low-income families in New Hampshire pay energy bills is facing a $1.6 million reduction because of the budget-cutting sequester, after five years of reductions that have already cut its funding in half.

U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., and officials for the state and Southern New Hampshire Services in Nashua lamented these cuts during a public forum Monday. Kuster called on her Congressional colleagues to restore the heating assistance money, known as LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program).   Continue reading “Heating assistance for low-income families facing more cuts”

Vice President Joe BidenIsrael National News –  by Elad Benari

Vice President Joe Biden has announced that the Obama administration is working to help Holocaust survivors in the United States, many of whom live in poverty, according to The Associated Press (AP).

This is done by coordinating assistance, working with aid groups and using diplomatic means to help recover property confiscated during the Nazi era, the Vice President said.   Continue reading “Biden: Administration Working to Help Holocaust Survivors”

The Atlantic

Syria is the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. As former New York Times reporter David Rohde wrote last month, roughly 30 journalists, half of them foreign reporters, are now missing in the country—marking the “single largest wave of kidnappings in modern journalism.” Just in the last few weeks, we’ve learned that two Swedish journalists were abducted near the Lebanese border, two Spanish journalists were kidnapped by al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in the northern province of Raqqa, and an Iraqi cameraman was executed by the same jihadi group in the northern province of Idlib. A total of 55 journalists have been killed covering the two and a half-year-old conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Pro- and anti-Assad forces have both had a hand in the bloodshed.   Continue reading “News Outlets to Syrian Rebels: Help Us Stop Journalist Kidnappings”