Extortion, Police Raids and Secrecy: The Venezuelan Bitcoin Mining World

"Who would have ever thought that Bitcoin mining would be a cat and mouse game of trying to outwit and deceive government and police task forces? Then again who would’ve thought that Bitcoin mining would be so lucrative to where families are living off the Bitcoin ecosystem."

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Army veteran ran Filipino child abduction and pornography ring

"Authorities say Clemans sent Lyan Tandeg, one of his co-conspirators, $6,000 to buy film equipment and instructed her to photograph a selection of naked children. Clemans allegedly used the images to decide which child he would rape when he next traveled to the Philippines. Clemans also paid Tandeg to seek out young, vulnerable victims from orphanages and paid Shellina Atad, another co-conspirator, to legally obtain custody of the children in order to make pornography, ABC News reported."

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FBI fatally shoots victim of kidnapping trio, alone and with his hands bound

"A kidnapping victim was shot to death Thursday during an FBI investigation at a northeast Houston home. Investigators said FBI agents were conducting an operation at a home in the 7300 block of Elbert Street when the victim, 47-year-old Ulises Valladares, was shot and killed. Court records indicate that authorities found Valladares' with his hands bound tape. According to sources, FBI agents accidentally shot Valladares. He was taken to LBJ Hospital, where he was pronounced dead."

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National park police gun down stopped, unarmed motorist in his car

"In an interview, Austin said he suspects Ghaisar, who has no criminal record, drove off after stopping because he was spooked by the very first stop initiated by Park Police, in which police cut him off in the middle of the highway and approached with guns drawn, yanking at his front door."

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Tech firms let Russia analyze software widely used by U.S. government

"In order to sell in the Russian market, the tech companies let a Russian defense agency scour the inner workings, or source code, of some of their products. Russian authorities say the reviews are necessary to detect flaws that could be exploited by hackers. But those same products protect some of the most sensitive areas of the U.S government, including the Pentagon, NASA, the State Department, the FBI and the intelligence community, against hacking by sophisticated cyber adversaries like Russia."

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ICE gains access to database that tracks license plates in realtime

"Using the database, ICE agents will be able to see where license plates have been located over the past five years, as well as find individual’s residences, according to The Verge. Officials can also be instantly alerted when new records of specific plates are located. Civil liberties groups slammed ICE’s access to the database."

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U.S. Border Crossings Have Become Authoritarian Testing Grounds

"The border is seen by the government as a civil rights-free zone where U.S. citizens are being increasingly treated like criminals and subject to the exact same sort of degrading abuse as my brother’s girlfriend. This is something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while, and this recent experience inspired me to do so today. Many of you have no idea how bad things already are."

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The Myth of Trump’s ‘Global Retreat’

"Trump hasn’t forfeited America’s global leadership. On the world stage, his is a new flavor of the same dish. America is still playing the futile role of global cop, still reigns as the only superpower with a globe-straddling military presence and is still picking fights in distant regions remote to US national-security interests. The fact that it is Donald Trump at the helm of all this is fooling observers into thinking more has changed than actually has."

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Donald Trump Flaunts the Dangers of Presidential Power

"Barack Obama left office as the first two-termer in American history to have been at war every single day of his presidency. In his last year alone, U.S. forces dropped over 26,000 bombs on seven different countries. Trump blew past that tally nine months into his tenure. Indeed, this putatively 'isolationist' president has deepened entanglements on every battlefield Obama left him, ramping up airstrikes, kill-or-capture missions, and civilian casualties."

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‘Make Trade, Not War’ is China’s daring plan in the Middle East

"From the United States’ point of view, the National Security Strategy document highlighted how China and Russia are trying to shape a new geopolitical environment in the region, which contrasts sharply from Washington’s aims and interests. It pointed out that while Russia is trying to advance its position as the leading political and military power broker, China is pushing ahead with a 'win, win' economic policy."

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