Monthly Archives: July 2013

Snowden reportedly has ‘blueprint’ on how NSA operates

"Snowden has 'literally thousands of documents' that constitute 'basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built' that could aid in duplicating or evading NSA surveillance tactics, The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald told the news agency on Sunday. Greenwald said the NSA 'blueprints' don't represent a threat to U.S. national security, but could be embarrassing to the government. 'I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed,' Greenwald told the AP." Continue reading →

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Cop indicted for aggravated assault at McDonald’s drive-through

"According to a Forsyth County Sheriff’s report, Biumi was upset about how long the order from the truck in front of him was taking. He then pointed a handgun at one teen's head and yelled 'you don't know who you are [dealing] with,' according to the report. He then withdrew his gun, got back in his Impala and drove away without getting his order of two hamburgers and a small fries. Sheriff’s investigators determined the suspect was a law enforcement officer based on the man’s actions as reported by witnesses and captured on the restaurant surveillance video. The teens in the truck also reported a tag number on the Impala, which matched a police-issued vehicle." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCop indicted for aggravated assault at McDonald’s drive-through

Customs & Border Protection Logged Eight-Fold Increase in Drone Surveillance for Other Agencies

"Daily flight logs from Customs & Border Protection (CPB) show the agency has sharply increased the number of missions its 10 Predator drones have flown on behalf of state, local and non-CPB federal agencies. Yet, despite this increase—eight-fold between 2010 and 2012—CBP has failed to explain how it’s protecting our privacy from unwarranted drone surveillance. CBP already appears to be flying drones well within the Southern and Northern US borders, and for a wide variety of non-border patrol reasons. The agency is planning to increase its Predator drone fleet to 24 and its drone surveillance to 24 hours per day / 7 days per week by 2016." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCustoms & Border Protection Logged Eight-Fold Increase in Drone Surveillance for Other Agencies

States with toughest gun laws have triple the amount of gun deaths

"The ten states given the highest ratings by the Brady Campaign for having the most stringent gun control legislation have about triple the amount of gun deaths compared to the ten states that have the least restrictive gun legislation, according to data compiled by the Examiner. Using data from Slate, the Examiner also found that the Brady Campaign's highest rated state for having the most restrictive gun legislation, California, also had the highest number of gun deaths(677) since the Sandy Hook shooting. The state with the fewest restrictions on firearms (and therefore the lowest scored), Utah, has had 29 gun deaths since Sandy Hook." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStates with toughest gun laws have triple the amount of gun deaths

Amidst Detroit Banktruptcy, Spontaneous Order and Market Anarchy Flourish

"One needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply isn’t around. Dale Brown and his organization, the Threat Management Center (TMC), have helped fill in the void left by the corrupt and incompetent city government. Law enforcement isn’t the only 'essential government service' that the private sector is taking over and flourishing in. The Detroit Bus Company (DBC) is a private bus service that began last year and truly shows a stark contrast in how the market and government operates." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmidst Detroit Banktruptcy, Spontaneous Order and Market Anarchy Flourish

Robots playing larger role in operating rooms

"Introduced commercially a little more than a decade ago, robotic surgery is becoming more routine in hospitals and is the preferred method for patients who need to have a prostate or cervix removed as well as a host of other procedures. In the last four years, the number of hospitals nationwide using the da Vinci robot has risen by more than 80 percent, and the number of procedures performed each year has risen by 300 percent to more than 300,000 operations each year, according to the multi-billion dollar company." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRobots playing larger role in operating rooms

Polish doctors carry out world’s first life-saving face transplant

"Polish doctors carried out the world’s first life-saving face transplant, the centre’s spokeswoman said Wednesday, weeks after a 33-year-old man was disfigured by a machine in a workplace accident. The man, an employee at a stonemason’s workshop and only identified as Grzegorz, was severely maimed on April 23, when a machine used to cut stone ripped out a large chunk of his face. With time of the essence, doctors were lucky to find a donor within two weeks, a man in his thirties whose family immediately agreed to the operation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolish doctors carry out world’s first life-saving face transplant

Walk-in clinics gaining popularity

"Nontraditional healthcare sites such as urgent care centers and retail clinics are gaining popularity with consumers looking to avoid the long waits and high prices of the doctor's office or emergency department. The trend is expected to continue as the Affordable Care Act's full implementation looms and concerns grow over a shortage of primary care physicians. Visits to the country's three largest retail clinics — CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic, Walgreen's Take Care Health and Kroger's Little Clinic — have skyrocketed in recent years. Their popularity, a report found, is due to their convenience, accessible hours and low cost. The average cost of a visit is about $78." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWalk-in clinics gaining popularity

A Rare – and Encouraging – Glimpse at How a Free Market Could Work in the Health Sector

"I’ve already cited the case of a North Carolina doctor who decided to use market-based pricing, and I’ve shared a very powerful video from Reason TV about a hospital in Oklahoma that’s doing the same thing. Now we have a free market revolution by a doctor in Maine: Dr. Michael Ciampi took a step this spring that many of his fellow physicians would describe as radical. The family physician stopped accepting all forms of health insurance. In early 2013, Ciampi sent a letter to his patients informing them that he would no longer accept any kind of health coverage, both private and government-sponsored. He posted his prices on the practice’s website." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Rare – and Encouraging – Glimpse at How a Free Market Could Work in the Health Sector

Police ignore Taser heart attack risk and keep firing at suspects’ chests

"British police have fired Tasers hundreds of times at suspects’ chests despite explicit warnings from the weapon’s manufacturer not to do so because of the dangers of causing a cardiac arrest, the Guardian can reveal. Following the death last Wednesday of a man in Manchester after police hit him with a Taser shot, figures obtained from 18 out of 45 UK forces show that out of a total of 884 Taser discharges since 2009 – the year when Taser International first started warning the weapon’s users not to aim for the chest – 57% of all shots (518) have hit the chest area." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice ignore Taser heart attack risk and keep firing at suspects’ chests