Yearly Archives: 2013

The Rise of the Anti-State Cyber-Warrior

"What is it about this new direction in war that makes it so different? First, it is not a battle that is waged by governments against other governments. It is a battle of the individual against the state. It is a battle that the state has a difficult time protecting against because it has a difficult time understanding from where an attack might emerge and it has a difficult time understanding the nature of the attack once the attack itself is observable. Among current, early cyber-warriors leading attacks, I have in mind such men as Julian Assange, creator of Wikileaks, Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous developer of Bitcoin and Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower." Continue reading →

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America’s private prison system is a national disgrace

"Since 1980, the US prison population has grown by 790%. We have the largest prison population of any nation in the history of the world. One in three African-American men will go to jail at some point in his life. Imprisoning that many people, most of them for non-violent offenses, doesn’t come cheap, especially when you’re paying private contractors. The United States now spends $50bn on our corrections system every year. Much of that money goes to private contractors, who are doing quite well living off of American corporate welfare – at the expense of the American taxpayer, whose dollars are funding this mass incarceration project." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica’s private prison system is a national disgrace

Congress resumes attacks on emigrants: the Ex-PATRIOT Act is back

"It would seem that Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senator from the State of New York, has learned a few tricks from Carl Levin about gaming the U.S. legislative process. Now, instead of trying to get his bill to pass on its own merits, he’s snuck it into an existing bill with a greater chance of passing — just as FATCA died in committee before being snuck into the HEART Act. Other countries both developing and developed — ranging from the Philippines to Denmark to South Korea — have easy-to-obtain diaspora visas for their former citizens. The United States, on the other hand, is once again proposing exile for its own former citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCongress resumes attacks on emigrants: the Ex-PATRIOT Act is back

Florida man’s attorney claims NSA phone records will prove client’s innocence

"An attorney for a Florida man accused of robbing armored bank cars in 2010 filed a motion this week demanding that the government turn over phone location records theoretically stored in the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive archives, which he believes could exonerate his client on at least one of the charges against him. In the trial of Terrance Brown, this is a twist not even his attorneys could have seen coming, all predicated upon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s explosive revelations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFlorida man’s attorney claims NSA phone records will prove client’s innocence

New York woman solves her father’s cold case murder 26 years later

"A man arrested in Miami last Thursday who confessed to the killing of a New York restaurant owner 26 years ago was caught thanks to the persistence of a daughter who never forgot the man’s name. The NYPD had improperly closed the case on Martinez’s killing. Joselyn Martinez was just 9 years old when her father was shot and killed. In November 2012, she found her father’s cold case file in the NYPD’s 34th precinct archives. Martinez worked furiously for three months before approaching police again with evidence she’d collected online, paying less than $300 to track the man down. Armed with this new information, police acted swiftly." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York woman solves her father’s cold case murder 26 years later

Secession and Nullification in Colorado

"In response to a few years of anti-rural, anti-gun, and high tax government in Denver, some rural counties in northern and eastern Colorado have proposed that they secede from Colorado. At the center of the effort is the Weld County government, which is controlled by rural and agricultural interests, and relatively more bible-belt-ish compared to much of the state. In addition, the northeastern part of the state is experiencing an oil-driven boom thanks to oil discovered in the Niobrara formation. These newly oil-rich counties also want to opt out of regulations they anticipate will be coming from Denver." Continue reading →

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‘The worst case of scientific censorship since the church banned Copernicus’

"The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, magic mushrooms and other psychoactive substances amounts to scientific censorship and is hampering research into potentially important medicinal uses, leading scientists argued on Wednesday. Laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s have set back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades, they argued. 'The laws have never been updated despite scientific advances and growing evidence that many of these drugs are relatively safe. And there appears to be no way for the international community to make such changes,' said David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology professor." Continue reading →

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Police take over food delivery run, bust recipient for marijuana

"Norman Police Officer David Stevenson was contacted by a female delivery driver in reference to a medical emergency she was having. She was at the intersection of West Lindsey Street and Crown Point Avenue, close to where her she was dropping off her next delivery. Prior to being transported to the hospital, she requested that the food she was about to deliver be delivered by Officer Stevenson, the affidavit said. When Wolf opened the door to his home, Stevenson said he observed a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside, saw a glass jar containing marijuana and a smoking pipe lying on the living room coffee table." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice take over food delivery run, bust recipient for marijuana

Hands-free cell phone devices still pose driving risk: study

"Speech-to-text devices in new cars fail to overcome the well-known perils of hands-on texting while driving, a US study published Wednesday suggests. While the research is ongoing, early findings suggest that sending texts with a hands-free voice recognition system — a feature in many new vehicles — was more distracting than listening to the radio or conversing with passengers. The 12 men and 20 women who participated in the study ranged in age from 18 to 33. All had clean driving records — and all confessed to regularly using their cell phones while driving." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHands-free cell phone devices still pose driving risk: study