Monthly Archives: March 2013

NYPD faces class-action lawsuit over controversial stop-and-frisk policy

"A landmark trial challenging the New York police department’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy began in a lower Manhattan court on Monday. The class action suit accuses the NYPD of violating the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers on a widespread and systemic basis. New York city police officers stopped 685,724 citizens in 2011, continuing an upward trend that began when Michael Bloomberg became mayor. Nearly nine out of 10 of those stopped in 2011 had committed no crime. The vast majority were black or Latino." Continue reading →

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‘Die Hard’ director John McTiernan faces jail within weeks for illegal wiretap, lying

"McTiernan, whose films also include 'The Hunt for Red October' and 'The Thomas Crown Affair,' was sentenced to 12 months in jail and fined $100,000 in 2010 for making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But he stayed free pending appeals in the case, which stems from his hiring a private investigator to illegally wire-tap a producer. The US Supreme Court has refused to hear his case, leaving him with the deadline to surrender." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Die Hard’ director John McTiernan faces jail within weeks for illegal wiretap, lying

Obama administration: Warrantless GPS tracking needed to fight terrorism

"The Obama administration will argue before a federal appeals court on Tuesday that law enforcement must regain the ability to use GPS tracking devices without a warrant, which it says is necessary to continue the fight against terrorism. The use of GPS devices in warrantless snooping has been illegal since January 2012, when the Supreme Court ruled that vehicles are private property protected by the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. If the Obama administration is successful on its appeal however, GPS devices will be fair game for police nationwide." Continue reading →

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Daylight robbery in Cyprus will come to haunt EMU

"The decision to expropriate Cypriot savers – even the poorest – was imposed by Germany, Holland, Finland, Austria, and Slovakia, whose only care at this stage is to assuage bail-out fatigue at home and avoid their own political crises. The EU creditor states have at a single stroke violated the principle that insured EU bank deposits of up $100,000 will be guaranteed come what may, and in doing so they have more or less thrown Portugal under a bus. They appear poised to seize large sums from Russian banks – €1.3bn from state-owned VTB alone, and therefore from the Kremlin." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDaylight robbery in Cyprus will come to haunt EMU

The No-Name European Committee That Made the $13 Billion Guarantee to Cypriot Banks

"The Eurogroup held a teleconference this evening to take stock of the situation in Cyprus. The eurozone's decision-making institution on the euro is an informal committee of finance ministers. The committee has no official name. It has no official power. It is not voted into office. In the Lisbon Treaty, which went into effect on January 1, 2009, this no-name informal committee at last got its legal status. This no-name Committee promised Cyprus banks $13 billion worth of euros over the weekend, on its own authority, and answerable to no one in any European parliament, including the European Union. This is called democracy in Europe." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe No-Name European Committee That Made the $13 Billion Guarantee to Cypriot Banks

Driver’s Taxes and Other Money-Grabbing Schemes Throughout History

"Did you know that you need a license in Japan to be a sushi chef? It’s true. In Japan, you need a license to slice raw fish. You can bet that if the sushi restaurants in the USA were to become so popular that they stood on every street corner, the government would increase taxes on them by requiring a special license to slice fish; and why not? They tax you to go out on the water to catch them! Throughout the history of man there have been all sorts of ridiculous taxes levied on people by their overlords. The government claims they are doing it for the good of society, but it’s all a money scam. Here’s a short list of some of my, er, 'favorite' taxes through time." Continue reading →

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Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own

"Copyright is impacting more people than ever before because the line between hardware and software, physical and digital has blurred. The issue goes beyond cellphone unlocking, because once we buy an object we should own it. We should be able to lift the hood, unlock it, modify it, repair it … without asking for permission from the manufacturer. This is a property rights issue, and current copyright law gets it backwards, turning regular people — like students, researchers, and small business owners — into criminals. Manufacturers have systematically used copyright in this manner over the past 20 years to limit our access to information." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingForget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own

Supreme Court upholds mom’s $220,000 fine for downloading music

"The US Supreme Court refused Monday to take up the case of a woman ordered to pay a $220,000 fine for illegally downloading music off the internet. The country’s top court upheld without comment the verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset in the long-running, high-profile digital piracy case. Thomas-Rasset, a mother of four from Minnesota, has been fighting a court battle since 2006 over violating intellectual property laws in her use of the file-sharing program Kazaa." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court upholds mom’s $220,000 fine for downloading music

Has military Keynesianism come to an end?

"There are few better ways of appreciating how the Republican Party has transformed in the last two years from a party of defense hawks to a party of deficit hawks than tracking how the sequester has turned from a threat to the nation’s defenses to an unparalleled opportunity to bring the government to heel. The whole panoply of vested interests surrounding defense that has ensured that federal spending on guarding our shores and keeping tyranny at bay has, since Eisenhower, become the main Keynesian engine of economic growth. Does the hushed response to this most profound assault upon defense spending mean the end of Keynesian militarism?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHas military Keynesianism come to an end?

Anti-drone devices for sale: military contractor claims to have counter-UAV technology

"Domestic drones will soon be soaring through the sky left and right, but a company in Oregon with ties to the US military is marketing a service that they say will make sure private property is safe from surveillance. The team at one-month-old Domestic Drone Countermeasures doesn’t go into many specifics, but says they can offer services that will make sure Americans aren’t being spied on by hovering eyes in the sky. The Federal Aviation Administration expects there to be roughly 30,000 drones in American airspace by the year 2020." Continue reading →

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