Author: The Freedom Watch Staff

This author has written 11091 articles

Apple pays Swiss rail $21million over clock dispute

"US tech giant Apple has dished out 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million, 17 million euros) to compensate Swiss national rail operator SBB for using its famous clock without permission, a Swiss daily reported Saturday. The company agreed in October to pay the lump sum so it could continue using SBB’s Swiss-designed station clock face on its iPads and iPhones, the Tages-Anzeiger daily reported on its website, quoting several unnamed sources." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingApple pays Swiss rail $21million over clock dispute

2013 Federal Income Tax (Fiscal Cliff) Calculator

"This U.S. Federal Individual income tax calculator shows the estimated personal taxes owed by both individuals and married couples, whether employed or self-employed. The 2013 income tax calculations are what the law currently specifies will be owed by Americans in the year 2013, unless Congress (beleaguered by the debt ceiling, a Presidential election, and massive looming automatic budget cuts) has the time and wherewithal to change the law." Continue reading →

Continue Reading2013 Federal Income Tax (Fiscal Cliff) Calculator

Petraeus Resignation Smells Funny

"What could be so bad and threatening that a 'national hero' like General David Petraeus would admit to the horribly embarrassing and personal extra-marital affair just to divert attention and thus exit the game relatively intact? (Sometimes admitting to something terribly personal can provide a kind of vaccine against further probes). Seems right-wingers feel it is a way to avoid having to testify over CIA failures in Benghazi in September. Possible. I wonder whether that horse is indeed cold after Republican beatings. And I am a bit skeptical that Benghazi was anything resembling what it was portrayed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPetraeus Resignation Smells Funny

Injustice Gone Wild

"40 to 50 federal agents and police officers stormed the facilities of Mountain Pure Water and held employees at gunpoint, the crime? None. The mission: obtaining paperwork. Duncan Outdoors, Gibson Guitars and many others have suffered similar gestapo attacks from federal agents and the IRS that Mountain Pure Water suffered. This is being labeled as Small Business Bullying and the practice has sky rocketed ever since Eric Holder became the Attorney General under the Obama administration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInjustice Gone Wild

US, Canada announce cross-border action plan

"Since its announcement, the Beyond the Border program has been shrouded in secrecy. Its provisions included multiple information-sharing clauses, including common technical standards for sharing biometric data. The Beyond the Border initiative has been criticized by privacy advocates who worry that Canadians' personal data could be misused by multiple governmental agencies in the United States. Information on Canadian citizens is already being given to the U.S. government under the Secure Flight initiative, a program of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS, Canada announce cross-border action plan

How Do You Turn a Leftist into a Warmonger?

"Here are excerpts from an article posted at The Street, written by a statist who says that 'tax havens' don’t have enough military force to resist high-tax nations. The title is particularly revealing. She must be the fiscal version of a neo-con, urging that high-tax nations should 'Invade the Cayman Islands!' Not Iran. Not Syria. Not Cuba. Not North Korea. You see, those nations are all guilty of causing misery and instability, but such behaviors apparently are far less important than the imagined dangers posed by a prosperous multi-racial society with a competitive tax regime." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Do You Turn a Leftist into a Warmonger?

American Expat Taxpayers Would Rather Ditch Citizenship Than Face New IRS Rules

"The rule change followed legislation made in the wake of the financial crisis that was meant to help the U.S. government close the tax gap and combat tax evasion. But the FATCA rule change is shaping up to be an administrative and diplomatic nightmare for some foreign banks. For expats, it is complicating life overseas, curtailing opportunities in everything from jobs to getting bank accounts -- and, of course, potentially raising their tax burden. Now, with the promise of higher taxes coming next year, many expats are saying enough." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican Expat Taxpayers Would Rather Ditch Citizenship Than Face New IRS Rules

Prosecutor wife suspected of evidence tampering for accused rapist husband

"Jennifer Grant, a supervising assistant city prosecutor in Seattle, has been been reassigned to duties that 'do not entail courtroom prosecutorial work' because she is suspected of tampering with evidence to protect her husband who is accused of the serial rape of immigrants at several massage parlors. Dan Grant faces seven charges for a series of rapes of Chinese women working as massage therapists, including four counts of first-degree rape, one count of second degree rape and one count of attempted second-degree rape. He also faces a charge for first-degree burglary." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingProsecutor wife suspected of evidence tampering for accused rapist husband

220 marijuana cases dismissed in King, Pierce counties after legalization

"King and Pierce County prosecutors are dismissing more than 220 misdemeanor marijuana cases in response to Tuesday’s vote to decriminalize small amounts of pot. In King County, 175 cases are being dismissed involving people 21 and older and possession of one ounce or less. I-502 makes one ounce of marijuana legal on Dec. 6, but King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg decided to apply I-502 retroactively. 'Although the effective date of I-502 is not until December 6, there is no point in continuing to seek criminal penalties for conduct that will be legal next month,' Satterberg said in a statement." Continue reading →

Continue Reading220 marijuana cases dismissed in King, Pierce counties after legalization

With Two States Legalizing Marijuana, Are Drug Warriors In Washington Freaking Out?

"Voters in Colorado and Washington made history Tuesday night. The states’ marijuana legalization initiatives, I-502 in Washington and Amendment 64 in Colorado, brought what many marijuana advocates are calling the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in America. But the power of the people -- and the states -- have one big hurdle to clear before the ban on pot is lifted: The feds. Only this time, the people may have built more than drug warriors' boots can stomp out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith Two States Legalizing Marijuana, Are Drug Warriors In Washington Freaking Out?