Year: 2014

All Gov – by Noel Brinkerhoff, Danny Biederman

Senate investigators have determined that some of the most powerful investment firms on Wall Street schemed their way into billions of dollars in tax breaks.

A report (pdf) by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says more than a dozen hedge funds used “basket options” over a 15-year period to avoid paying hundreds of billions in taxes they would otherwise have owed to the U.S. Treasury.   Continue reading “Hedge Funds Accused of Screwing Americans out of Billions of Dollars in Taxes”

Raw Story – by Arturo Garcia

A Border Patrol agent allegedly held a member of an Iowa Boy Scout troop at gunpoint while another threatened another boy with arrest and a 10-year prison term for taking a picture of him, KCCI-TV reported.

The incident reportedly took place while members of Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 and volunteers traveling with them were attempting to drive through the border between Canada into Alaska. Troop leader Jim Fox told KCCI that the group was detained and searched after the scout took the picture. The agent allegedly told Fox that the scout had committed a federal offense.   Continue reading “Border Patrol agents hold Iowa Boy Scouts at gunpoint for taking a picture of them”

The Daily People – by Joshua Krause

As we find ourselves being hurled into this strange future, technology has proven to be a rather fickle beast. Any given technology will serve anyone, good or evil, and without any discrimination. Fortunately, the latest advances in technology have had a very decentralizing effect. Powerful tech is no longer just in the hands of the elite, but is rushing head long into the hands of every day enterprising individuals. Though it may not look like it if you read today’s headlines, the power of the individual is growing a little more over the machinations of central control (governments, corporations, etc) every day, and our inventions are leading the way towards a more liberated future. Below are 5 new technologies that are (or soon will be) making the elites cringe.   Continue reading “Stick it to the Man With Five More Cool Technologies”

RT

Despite moving forward with the construction of 20 Littoral Combat Ships, the Navy is considering major changes to the beleaguered program – and one that may potentially involve replacing it entirely.

According toNational Defense Magazine, back in April the Navy released a request seeking information on technologies and methods that could be used to improve the current version of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). A separate information request, meanwhile, asked for designs for brand new ships.   Continue reading “US Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship program could face the axe”

RT

A federal judge has denied Google Inc’s attempt to dismiss a privacy lawsuit brought against the technology giant for commingling user data across its different products and offering that data to advertisers without permission.

US District Judge Paul Grewal ruled Monday evening that Google has to face the breach of contract and fraud claims brought by users of Android devices who downloaded at least one Android application through Google Play.   Continue reading “Google to face lawsuit over providing consumer data to advertisers”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — It has been one of the lingering questions since the dramatic manhunt that gripped the Boston area in the days after the marathon bombings: Where did the suspects get the gun that authorities say they used to kill a university police officer?

Answers may come soon with the arrest of a friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who people with knowledge of the investigation say was the source of the weapon. Stephen Silva made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court on charges related to heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number.   Continue reading “Arrest linked to gun used after Boston bombings”

Reuters

FREETOWN (Reuters) – The head doctor fighting the deadly tropical virus Ebola in Sierra Leone has himself caught the disease, the government said.

The 39-year-old Sheik Umar Khan, hailed as a “national hero” by the health ministry, was leading the fight to control an outbreak that has killed 206 people in the West African country. Ebola kills up to 90 percent of those infected and there is no cure or vaccine.

Across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, more than 600 people have died from the illness, according to the World Health Organisation, placing great strain on the health systems of some of Africa’s poorest countries.   Continue reading “Sierra Leone’s chief Ebola doctor contracts the virus”

Natural News – by J.D. Heyes

Wide swaths of the United States remain mired in one of the worst droughts in recent times, prompting some to describe conditions as near “apocalyptic.”

California, which is essentially the nation’s fruit basket, has been particularly hard hit. As noted by The Economic Collapse Blog, some scientists and climatologists are beginning to use phrases like “the worst drought” and “as bad as you can imagine” to describe the current situation in the western half of the nation. Continue reading “U.S. drought reaches ‘apocalyptic’ extremes”

The Common Sense Show – by Dave Hodges

According to my confidential sources the manner in which the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) deals with confiscated weapons associated with the commission of a drug crime has changed. Formerly, when the DEA would execute a drug bust and seize weapons, they would simply destroy the guns, unless the guns were to be used as evidence in an upcoming trial. In such cases, guns would be destroyed when they had outlived their evidentiary usefulness. Then came along Mr. Fast and Furious, Eric Holder who has ordered that all guns seized by any Federal agency, including the DEA, must be turned over to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Some of you who know your history already know where this is going.   Continue reading “Fast and Furious Is Alive and Well and Is Being Used to Expand Drug and Gun Trafficking”

CNN

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew to Israel Tuesday night to protest a ban by the Federal Aviation Administration that is preventing U.S. airlines from flying into or out of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

Bloomberg is flying on the Israeli airline El Al.

“This evening I will be flying on El Al to Tel Aviv to show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel. Ben Gurion is the best protected airport in the world and El Al flights have been regularly flying in and out of it safely,” Bloomberg said in a statement.   Continue reading “Bloomberg flies to Israel to protest FAA ban”

The New American – by Bob Adelmann

When Sharma Floyd, owner of Shiloh Brew and Chew in Maryville, Tennessee, read about a shooting at a convenience store in North Carolina that had posted a sign on its front door banning guns on the premises, she considered it both a warning and an opportunity:

They had put up a sign that said “No Weapons Allowed” and they were robbed at gunpoint two days later. The … store manager was shot.   Continue reading “Tennessee Restaurant Welcomes Guns — Holstered “Unless Need Arises””

The Electronic Intifada – by Rania Khalek and Adriana Maestas, February 27, 2014

The top issues for Latino voters in the United States are immigration, the economy, health care and education. Rarely do issues pertaining to the Middle East register a blip in the polling of Latino voters, except for when it comes to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So why are pro-Israel groups spending more and more resources courting Latino elected officials, community leaders and students?   Continue reading “How the Israel lobby is courting US Latinos”

Prevent Disease – by Marco Torres

Are microwaves a benign bastion of convenience or a sinister contributor to biological and nutritional damage? A growing percentage of people are now heeding the advice of holistic health experts and disposing of their microwaves due to the dangers of microwaved food. Regardless of where you stand, humans are the only animals on the planet who destroy the nutritional value of their food before eating it, and the use of microwaves is no exception.

Microwaves are a source of electromagnetic energy (a form of nonionizing form of radiation) electronically generated. When penetrating the aliments, they trigger an inner rotation of the water molecules inside the food. This rotation triggers a friction between the molecules and the result is a rapid growth in temperature.   Continue reading “12 Facts About Microwaves That Should Forever Terminate Their Use”

Independent – by ARIFA AKBAR, September 17, 2010

Yahoo News

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s Central News Agency says a plane has crashed in a failed emergency landing, killing 51 people.

The news agency cited the head of the fire department in the Taiwanese county of Penghu as saying that seven people were also injured in the crash.

The report cites the Civil Aviation Administration as saying the flight crashed Wednesday with 54 passengers and four flight crew and was operated by a Taiwanese airline, TransAsia Airways.   Continue reading “Report: Plane crashes in Taiwan, killing 51 people”

Veterans Today – by Jim Fetzer and Dan Cady

BREAKING NEWS! A photograph of the photographer taking the photograph proves that it was a drill.

During a debate about Sandy Hook with someone who refused to identify himself other than as “Count One”, I was repeatedly challenged to produce extraordinary evidence.

He repeated and repeated the refrain, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof!” But the evidence I was producing, time after time, was extraordinary and met that standard.   Continue reading “The Sandy Hook “Smoking Gun”: Game, Set, Match!”

Press TV

According to reports, clashes erupted between the protesters and the Israeli forces in the village of Hussan, near the city of Bethlehem, early on Wednesday.   Continue reading “Israel forces kill man in protest rally in West Bank”

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that scenarios in the developing crisis in Ukraine are unacceptable, counterproductive and destabilizing the situation in the world.

“If we return to similar scenarios, as a whole, as I have already said, then this is absolutely unacceptable and counterproductive. This is destroying the modern world and order. Undoubtedly, such methods in regard to Russia won’t work,” Putin said during a Security Council meeting.   Continue reading “Developing Situation in Ukraine Unacceptable, Counterproductive, Destabilizing – Putin”