Yearly Archives: 2013

US court renews permission to NSA to collect phone metadata

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has renewed permission to the U.S. government for a controversial program to collect telephone metadata in bulk. The office of the Director of National Intelligence said the government filed an application with the FISC seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and the court renewed that authority, which expired on Friday. The information was being disclosed 'in light of the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program,' and an earlier decision by DNI James R. Clapper to declassify certain information relating to the program, it said." Continue reading →

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How will Obama defend secret NSA program in court? Letter offers clue.

"The letter continues, 'the Government is prohibited ... from indiscriminately sifting through the data. The data-base may only be queried for intelligence purposes by NSA analysts where there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion (RAS), based on specific facts.' If the government wants to take a closer look, any data gleaned must be associated with people or phone numbers already identified and approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In 2012, the letter revealed, the court approved fewer than 300 'query terms' that would allow intelligence analysts to pursue a phone call further." Continue reading →

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Paul Rosenberg on RT: Online Surveillance in the US

"You will probably be quite familiar with the idea that the government has a nasty habit of spying on Americans who haven't done anything wrong. Until recently, most of us have been called kooks, conspiracy nuts and worse... But, as the scandals keep coming, the general public is starting to wake up to the abuses. One leading voice in the effort to help people recognize and make sense of what's going on is 'outside the Matrix' author Paul Rosenberg. A few days ago, media network RT invited him into the studio to talk about these things. For more information, visit www.freemansperspective.com " Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Rosenberg on RT: Online Surveillance in the US

Move over NSA, here comes the Obamacare Big Brother database

"The massive, centralized database will include information such as income and financial data, family size, citizenship and immigration status, incarceration status, social security numbers, and private health information. It will compile dossiers based on information obtained from the IRS, Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, state Medicaid databases, and for some reason the Peace Corps. The hub will be used on a daily basis by so-called Navigators, but there are only sketchy guidelines on how they will be hired, trained and monitored." Continue reading →

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Obamacare, Simplified

"The process for determining subsidy eligibility could require 21 different steps, involving at least five separate entities—the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and state exchanges—and utilizing a process called the Income and Family Size Verification Project. Yet the Obama Administration believes spending more money will solve the problem. Just for the IRS implementation of Obamacare, the Administration requested $439.6 million for nearly 2,000 bureaucrats." Continue reading →

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25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head

"On Thursday, we learned that the decision had been made for the city of Detroit to formally file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It was going to be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States by far, but on Friday it was stopped at least temporarily by an Ingham County judge. How 'honoring the president' has anything to do with the bankruptcy of Detroit is a bit of a mystery, but what that judge has done is ensured that there will be months of legal wrangling ahead over Detroit's money woes. But one thing is for sure - the city of Detroit is flat broke. One of the greatest cities in the history of the world is just a shell of its former self." Continue reading →

Continue Reading25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head

An empty building in Montreal may welcome the Bitcoin Embassy soon

"'Thanks to a generous person who will remain anonymous for the time being, we have been given a building that we hope to convert into a 'Bitcoin Embassy'. With three floors to do with as we please, we hope to organize the space to make it easy and fun for people from all over the province to come and learn about Bitcoin, as well provide an office space for Bitcoiners to come do in order to start Bitcoin related projects, so they can work closely with other Bitcoin entrepreneurs, to develop exciting projects that will utilize Bitcoin in new ways!', says the announcement." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn empty building in Montreal may welcome the Bitcoin Embassy soon

Why the Only Real Way to Buy Bitcoins Is on the Streets

"Buttonwood meetups started in New York a few months ago and fanned out to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Buttonwood is an allusion to the May 17, 1792 agreement, struck under a buttonwood tree at 68 Wall Street, that set down the rules for what became the New York Stock Exchange. The Yerba Buena Bitcoiners see themselves as the modern descendants of these 18th century traders. Like them, they conduct their business in the open and face-to-face. It’s a little unexpected: The world’s pre-eminent digital currency is most safely traded face-to-face. But the Bitcoin phenomenon is itself unexpected." Continue reading →

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High frequency trader fined more than $3m by regulators

"Financial regulators in the UK and US have fined a high frequency trader and his firm more than $3m (£1.95m) for manipulating commodities markets. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Michael Coscia $903,176, while two US regulators levied the rest on him and his company, Panther Energy. Between 6 September 2011 and 18 October 2011, US-based Mr Coscia used algorithmic programs that he developed to create false orders for oil and gas on trading exchanges in the US and UK. A computer program placed and quickly cancelled trades to manipulate the price of commodities, an illegal process known as 'layering' and 'spoofing'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHigh frequency trader fined more than $3m by regulators

Ron Paul: Bernanke’s Farewell Tour

"Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered what may well be his last Congressional testimony before leaving the Federal Reserve in 2014. Unfortunately, his farewell performance was full of contradictory comments about the state of the economy and the effects of Fed policies on the market. One thing Bernanke inadvertently made clear was that the needs of Wall Street trump Main street, the economy, and sound money. Quantitative easing (QE) and effectively zero interest rates have created paper prosperity, but now the Fed must continuously assure Wall Street that the QE spigot will not be turned off." Continue reading →

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