Network Archives

Detroit city officials misplace $1 million check for a month

"Officials in the financially beleaguered city of Detroit misplaced a $1 million check made out to the city’s school system for a month. According to Bloomberg News, the fact that the check languished in a drawer, forgotten, for weeks from late February to March is another sign of the city government’s staggering inefficiency and bureaucratic incompetence. A spokesperson for Emergency Manager and Washington, D.C. bankruptcy lawyer Kevyn Orr blamed the oversight on the fact that the city’s technology is not up to date. 'Nobody sends million-dollar checks anymore — they wire the money,' Bill Nowling told Bloomberg." Continue reading →

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The Security State’s Reaction to Snowden Shows Why It’s Doomed

"Networks, when attacked, become even more decentralized and resilient. A good example is Napster and its successors, each of which has more closely approached an ideal peer-to-peer model, and further freed itself from reliance on infrastructure that can be shut down by central authority, than its predecessors. Hierarchies, on the other hand, respond to attack by becoming even more ossified, brittle and closed. Hierarchies respond to leaks by becoming internally opaque and closed even to themselves, so that their information is compartmentalized and they are less able to make effective use of the knowledge dispersed among their members." Continue reading →

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Obama announces proposals to reform NSA surveillance

"At his first full news conference in more than three months, Obama said he intends to work with Congress on proposals that would add an adversarial voice — effectively one advocating privacy rights — to the secret proceedings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Several Democratic senators have proposed such a measure. In addition, Obama said that he intends to work on ways to tighten one provision of the Patriot Act - known as Section 215 - that gives the government broader authority toobtain business phone data records." Continue reading →

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Secret NSA loophole allows data gathering on U.S. citizens without a warrant

"The previously undisclosed rule change allows NSA operatives to hunt for individual Americans’ communications using their name or other identifying information. Senator Ron Wyden told the Guardian the NSA’s authorities provide loopholes that allow 'warrantless searches for the phone calls or emails of law-abiding Americans'. The authority, approved in 2011, appears to contrast with repeated assurances from Barack Obama and senior intelligence officials to both Congress and the American public that the privacy of US citizens is protected from the NSA’s dragnet surveillance programs." Continue reading →

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Do We Really Want a Cold War II?

"In three years, the USSR gave up an empire, a third of its territory, and half its people. And it extended to us a hand of friendship. How did we respond? We pushed NATO right up to Russia's borders, bringing in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, even former Soviet republics Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. To cut Moscow out of the Caspian Sea oil, we helped build a pipeline through two former Soviet republics. In the Boris Yeltsin decade, the 1990s, U.S. hustlers colluded with local oligarchs in looting Russia of her natural resources. When columnist Tony Blankley visited Russia, he was astounded at the hostility he encountered." Continue reading →

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20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get

"I started Docstoc in my 20’s, made the cover of one of those cliché '20 Under 20' lists, and today I employ an amazing group of 20-somethings. Call me a curmudgeon, but at 34, how I came up seems so different from what this millennial generation expects. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I see this generation making their own. In response, here are my 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get." Continue reading →

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Greek youth unemployment soars to 64.9% as Biden claims stake in Greece’s success

"Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras will hold talks with US President Barack Obama later on Thursday. Mr Samaras is keen to secure US approval for stimulus policies for Greece's recession-hit economy, in contrast to the austerity emphasis preferred by many of its European partners, most notably Germany. US vice president Joe Biden said America had 'a stake' in Greece's economic recovery and wanted the crisis-hit nation to stay in the eurozone. 'The administration has always taken the view that it's overwhelmingly in our interest to have Greece remain a strong and vital part of the eurozone,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreek youth unemployment soars to 64.9% as Biden claims stake in Greece’s success

Greece becoming new Kosovo as youth jobless hits 65%

"Latest data from the Greek statistics agency showed the overall jobless rate rose to 27.6pc in May, despite a mass exodus of the best-educated young workers to the US, Australia, Britain and Germany. The figure is likely to rise further as Athens lays off 15,000 public sector workers by the end of next month to comply with European Union-International Monetary Fund (EU-IMF) Troika demands. EU economics chief Olli Rehn said Greek austerity was 'difficult but necessary', and should bear fruit in 2014. The IMF expects public debt to spiral to 176pc this year, and has warned EMU creditor states that they will have to provide substantial debt relief." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreece becoming new Kosovo as youth jobless hits 65%

PetroChina to join Exxon on giant Iraqi oilfield

"China’s biggest energy firm PetroChina will join Exxon Mobil in developing Iraq’s giant West Qurna oilfield and is in talks with Lukoil to buy into a second project at the field, industry sources said on Friday. China is already the top foreign player in Iraq’s southern oilfields and a deal at West Qurna would boost its dominance and could make PetroChina the biggest single foreign investor. PetroChina partners BP at Rumaila, Iraq’s biggest oilfield, and operates the Halfaya field. The company was the first foreign firm to sign an oil service deal in Iraq after U.S.-led forces toppled former president Saddam Hussein." Continue reading →

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