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Intelligence director introduces group to review NSA privacy issues

“US intelligence director James Clapper introduced a review group Monday that will assess whether the right balance is being struck between national security and personal privacy. The group will assess whether the US ‘optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations,’ the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in a statement. The body is required to brief the president on its findings within 60 days and provide a final report with recommendations no later than December 15, according to ODNI.” Continue reading →

Deputies suspended over violence while serving a $1,000 civil warrant at 1:13 AM

“The video shows a group of eight deputies entering Nantania Griffin’s home around 1:13 a.m. on July 26 to serve a civil warrant for failing to pay a $1,000 debt. Her sons secretly recorded the encounter on their phones and posted it online. Griffin and her family allegedly refused to let the deputies into the home for 30 minutes while telling them they had done nothing wrong. ‘You acted like a 2-year-old, so we treated you like a 2-year-old,’ one of the deputies can be heard saying in the video. Griffin’s son, Donovan Hall, told WSB that deputies kicked him in the head and that one hit him in the face with the butt of his gun.” Continue reading →

British police officer keeps job after having sex on duty while wearing handgun

“A police marksman who had sex on duty with a woman while his loaded gun was in a holster around his ankles has been allowed to keep his job, it has emerged. The police watchdog condemned Gwent police’s handling of the case, saying it had omitted key details in a report. PC Shaun Jenkins was originally dismissed from the force over the incident in 2010 but reinstated on appeal. He used a police armed response vehicle to get a lift to the house where the woman was, and was inside for between 30 to 40 minutes during which time he said he continued to monitor the police radio.” Continue reading →

Internal Bundesbank Report Predicts New Greek Bailout In Early 2014, Contra Merkel

“An internal Bundesbank document discovered by Der Spiegel states, in opposition to the comments by Germany’s electioneering Chancellor Merkel, that Europe ‘will certainly agree to a new aid program for Greece’ by early 2014 at the latest. As Reuters reports, Frau Merkel has repeatedly played down suggestions Greece will require more aid (or debt relief) in light of German voters major skepticism over moar of their money being flushed into the Mediterranean. The document notes that the risks of the current aid package for Greece are ‘extremely high’ and that recent approval of the tranche payments were politically motivated.” Continue reading →

Congress starts looking into Bitcoin

“The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Monday sent letters to several agencies requesting that they disclose their virtual currency policies, how they developed them, how agencies are coordinating and finally what they plan to do going forward. Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and ranking member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sent letters Monday, which ask for information on a range of virtual currencies while naming Bitcoin as an example, to the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, CFTC, and OMB.” Continue reading →

India raises import duty on gold, silver to 10 per cent

“India hiked import duty on refined gold bars for a third time in eight months to 10 per cent from the earlier 8 per cent, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The government also raised the import duty on silver to 10 per cent from the earlier 6 per cent, and the factory gate duty on gold bars to 9 per cent from 7 per cent. India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, has been trying to curb imports of the yellow metal, which is the second biggest imported item after crude oil. On July 22, the RBI required a fifth of all gold imports to be used for export, usually in the form of jewellery.” Continue reading →

The Taper Trap

“The big question these days is this: ‘When will the Federal Reserve System start to taper off its purchases of U.S.Treasury debt and Fannie/Freddie debt?’ The commonly held view is next month. A Reuter’s reporter went up to David Kotok’s annual gathering at Leen Lodge in Maine. He brings in 50 or so big names in the investment world. They can chat with each other. There are formal presentations. She asked several of them when the FED will taper. The answer was unified: not soon. Pippa Malmgren said it best: if the FED moves from buying 75% of the Treasuries issued this year to selling them, the market will react violently.” Continue reading →

The Police State Mindset in Our Public Schools

“Instead of making the schools safer, we simply managed to make them more authoritarian. It used to be that if you talked back to a teacher, or played a prank on a classmate, or just failed to do your homework, you might find yourself in detention or doing an extra writing assignment after school. Nowadays, students are not only punished for transgressions more minor than those—such as playing cops and robbers on the playground, bringing LEGOs to school, or having a food fight—but they are punished with suspension, expulsion, and even arrest. As a result, America is now on a fast track to raising up an Orwellian generation.” Continue reading →