Month: January 2018

Argus Media

Washington, 10 January (Argus) — President Donald Trump’s administration has abruptly withdrawn offshore acreage around Florida from its proposal to open more federal waters to oil and gas leasing, dealing a blow to industry hopes to develop the area.

US interior secretary Ryan Zinke said today he decided to remove Florida from a draft offshore leasing plan after talking today to Florida governor Rick Scott (R). The offshore acreage near Florida includes the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area thought to hold 3.6bn bl of oil that industry officials say would be easier to develop because it is close to existing oil and gas infrastructure.   Continue reading “US drops Florida from offshore leasing plan”

WSWS – by Jerry White

With the stock markets soaring and corporate America celebrating a massive tax cut, there are increasing warnings from some business circles that the immense level of inequality is generating deep social discontent.

In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal last week, Ray Dalio, who manages the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, warned that “elevated stock valuations” had not translated into higher long-term economic growth, let alone improvements for the bottom 60 percent of the population. This layer of the population, he said, lacked any savings, suffered a higher percentage of premature deaths, and had children destined to earn less than their parents.   Continue reading “Billionaire warns of growing class conflict in US”

Homeland Security News Wire

Israel’s prime minister tells NATO ambassadors that Israeli intelligence has thwarted “several dozen major terrorist attacks” against countries in Europe — some involving crashing highjacked planes into urban centers. Netanyahu expressed Israel’s growing concern with the de facto control Iran and Hezbollah are gaining over Syria. Last week, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said the most serious immediate threat to Israel was posed by Hezbollah, followed by other Iran-supported jihadist groups positioned on the Syrian border.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting with ambassadors of NATO member states, obliquely suggested that Israel has thwarted terrorists’ plans to hijack civilian airplanes and crash them into European cities.   Continue reading “Netanyahu hints Israel has thwarted plots to crash hijacked planes into European cities”

Hindustan Times

The Trump administration’s decision to not follow through with a proposed change in the H-1B regime has brought cheer to between 500,000 and 750,000 Indians, mostly technology workers, and their families in the US. It has also come as a relief to the Indian government which had expressed concern when news of the plan broke.  Continue reading “Status quo in H-1B visas will bring cheer to Indian techies”

RT

A US-based news producer, which provides content for Russian news agency Sputnik, is being forced to register as a foreign agent, as the US apparently continues to single-out Russian news outlets as a threat to America.

RT

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has become the wealthiest person in history and the first to outrank Microsoft’s Bill Gates on the rich list, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Gates was the only one to have made 13-figure fortune.

Bezos’ net fortune amounted to $106 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as Amazon market capitalization advanced nearly 57 percent in 2017. The surge was mostly triggered by enormous holiday sales. The Seattle-based corporation managed to make up 89 percent of online spending among major retailers in five days after Thanksgiving in the US.   Continue reading “Richest man in history: Amazon’s Bezos earns more in 5 days than most could in 5 lifetimes”

Mail.com

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal judges ruled Tuesday that North Carolina’s congressional district map drawn by legislative Republicans is illegally gerrymandered because of excessive partisanship that gave the GOP a rock-solid advantage for most seats and must quickly be redone.

The ruling marks the second time this decade that the GOP’s congressional boundaries in the state have been thrown out by a three-judge panel. In 2016, another panel tossed out two majority black congressional districts initially drawn in 2011, saying there was no justification for using race as the predominant factor in forming them. The redrawn map was the basis for a new round of lawsuits.  Continue reading “Judges: North Carolina must redo map skewed by partisanship”

The Daily Caller – by Rob Shimshock

A pro-liberty student group sued the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Monday for its free speech policy limiting speeches and rallies to one hour per day.

Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) sued the university for prohibiting students from engaging in speeches and rallies on campus during all times of the day except from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., according to a press release obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.  Continue reading “University Sued For Limiting Free Speech To Lunchtime”

LA Times – by Kate Mather

The Los Angeles Police Department took another step toward using drones in some tactical situations after its civilian bosses Tuesday approved a $31,500 donation to purchase the controversial devices.

The LAPD has yet to fly any drones. The yearlong pilot program, approved by the Police Commission last fall, won’t begin until the department buys the drones and teaches officers how to use them.   Continue reading “LAPD takes another step toward deploying drones in controversial yearlong test”

CNN

Judge William Alsup also said the administration must resume receiving DACA renewal applications.

But the ruling is limited — the administration does not need to process applications for those who have never before received DACA protections, he said.  Continue reading “Judge blocks Trump administration plan to roll back DACA”

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Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

On Tuesday, we reported  that the Russian military in Syria thwarted a massive drone attack at the Khmeimim air base and Russian Naval point in the city of Tartus on January 6, intercepting 13 heavily armed UAVs launched by terrorists.  Continue reading ““A Strange Coincidence”: US Spy Plane Circled Near Russian Base During Massive Drone Attack”

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New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to attend the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in the coming weeks, an administration official said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the president was looking forward to attending the gathering of world leaders and business executives.

Continue reading “Trump Plans to Attend the World Economic Forum in Davos”

Breitbart – by AWR Hawkins

In a long and circuitous piece intended to explain that national reciprocity violates states’ rights, the Christian Science Monitor claimed the right to self-defense was added to the Second Amendment “only recently.”

Their exact claim: “[National reciprocity legislation] has pitted a sense of overriding states’ individual wishes and local character against shifting legal views of the Second Amendment, which the Supreme Court has expanded only recently to include self-defense.”   Continue reading “Christian Science Monitor: Right to Self-Defense Added to 2nd Amendment ‘Only Recently’”

Yahoo News

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The inability of law enforcement authorities to access data from electronic devices due to powerful encryption is an “urgent public safety issue,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday as he sought to renew a contentious debate over privacy and security.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was unable to access data from nearly 7,800 devices in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 with technical tools despite possessing proper legal authority to pry them open, a growing figure that impacts every area of the agency’s work, Wray said during a speech at a cyber security conference in New York.   Continue reading “FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption ‘urgent public safety issue’”