Alternative News

More Compelling Evidence that America’s Corporate Tax System Is Pointlessly Destructive

"One solution is to engage in a lot of clever tax planning to minimize your taxable income. Though that’s probably not a successful long-term strategy since the Obama Administration is supporting a plan by European politicians to create further disadvantages for American-based companies. Another option is to somehow turn yourself into a foreign corporation. You won’t be surprised to learn that politicians have imposed punitive anti-expatriation laws to make that difficult, but the crowd in Washington hasn’t figured out how to stop cross-border mergers and acquisitions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMore Compelling Evidence that America’s Corporate Tax System Is Pointlessly Destructive

Ohio Attorney General rejects ballot measure to legalize marijuana

"A ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in Ohio was rejected on Monday by the state’s attorney general, who said the petition was not ' fair and truthful.' The group Responsible Ohioans for Cannabis collected enough signatures to submit the ballot measure to Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine’s office for approval. The ballot measure would have allowed voters in Ohio to approve or reject the End Ohio Cannabis Prohibition Act in the next election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOhio Attorney General rejects ballot measure to legalize marijuana

Bitcoin Block Time Halved To Five Minutes Amid Exponential Network Growth

"By now, bitcoin enthusiasts and professionals alike are aware of the tremendous growth of the bitcoin network so far this year. As millions of dollars (and bitcoin) are invested in increasingly powerful mining equipment, the cumulative hash rate of the network has continually blown by the periodic difficulty adjustments. Earlier this year we explained the long-term implications of this, but the near term effects are being felt as well. Since that piece was published, the network has continued to grow, as has the growth rate. The average time between blocks has fallen to approximately five minutes on average, half the time bitcoin was originally programmed for." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin Block Time Halved To Five Minutes Amid Exponential Network Growth

High Profile Digital Forensic Services Company SYTECH Embraces Bitcoin

"In August 2013 SYTECH announced its move into Bitcoin: offering data recovery services to salvage coins from damaged hard drives, mobile phones and other storage mediums. SYTECHis accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for its services, and offering a 5% discount to any client who pays in Bitcoin. In a world first, SYTECH has announced a stolen Bitcoin tracing and recovery service; turning its decades of digital forensics expertise to tracing online Bitcoin criminals and recovering stolen Bitcoin for their clients." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHigh Profile Digital Forensic Services Company SYTECH Embraces Bitcoin

The Missiles That Brought Down TWA Flight 800

"If the U.S. public began to raise a fuss about U.S. missile strikes that blow up large numbers of civilians at wedding parties abroad, it’s not beyond the realm of the imaginable that the U.S. government would begin blaming the explosions on faulty candles in the wedding cakes. A similarly implausible excuse was used to explain the 1996 explosion of TWA flight 800 off Long Island, New York, and the U.S. public has thus far either swallowed the story whole or ignored the matter. If you watch Kristina Borjesson’s new film, TWA Flight 800, you’ll see a highly persuasive case that this passenger jet full of passengers was brought down by missiles, killing all on board." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Missiles That Brought Down TWA Flight 800

Wi-Fi Trashcans Now Silently Tracking Your Smartphone Data

"Utilizing Wi-Fi technology within the infrastructure of the now tech-equipped trashcans, new ‘Renew Pods’ spy trashcans have been placed throughout the financial district of London. The ‘Renew’ company behind the spy cans says that the Renew Pods track and collect a medley of information. Specifically, it includes your phone’s unique Media Access Control (MAC) address, which these Renew Pods collect without even the slightest warning. But that’s along with collecting other characteristics that are used to sell to advertisers in order to better ‘target’ you with advertising in the area." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWi-Fi Trashcans Now Silently Tracking Your Smartphone Data

CIA stops denials and admits it had file on Noam Chomsky

"After issuing years of denials, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has revealed that it kept a file on MIT professor Noam Chomsky dating back to his days as an anti-war activist in the 1970s. According to John Hudson of Foreign Policy magazine’s The Cable blog, a public records request by FOIA attorney Ken McClanahan turned up a memo referring to the file, leading to the realization that a file must have existed although it had since been purged from the record. By whom, when and at whose orders the file was destroyed is still a mystery. Chomsky told the Cable that he isn’t surprised by the revelations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA stops denials and admits it had file on Noam Chomsky

How Edward Snowden and others can avoid $450 U.S. citizenship renunciation fee

"Snowden would only have to demonstrate with a preponderance of evidence that he has committed an act of treason. Sufficient bi-partisan accusations from notable political figures have accused him of treason that he should be able to make such a claim. The downside would of course be that an attempt to relinquish in this manner would be tantamount to a confession to the alleged crime. I wrote a blog post in February, 2011, explaining that those who relinquish citizenship should be able to avoid the new $450 renunciation fee that the State Department had begun to assess to renunciants by making a claim to have already relinquished their US citizenship." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Edward Snowden and others can avoid $450 U.S. citizenship renunciation fee

Stormy Weather in U.S. Cloud Computing

"A report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) estimated that if U.S. cloud providers were to lose 10-20% of foreign business, it would cost them anywhere from $21.5-35 billion over the next three years. But their losses present a big opportunity for European and Asian companies to pick up the slack from the growing global cloud market. A market that’s forecast to be worth $148.8 billion in 2014… $160 billion in 2015… and $207 billion in 2016. Artmotion, Switzerland’s largest offshore hosting company, has already scooped up a big portion of the leftovers. Since the Snowden leaks, its revenue has bounced 45% higher." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStormy Weather in U.S. Cloud Computing

President’s Spy Review Commission Provides Unintended Comedy

"President Obama announced to great Beltway fanfare late last week that he was setting up a commission to review the policies and procedures of the NSA. This was announced as part of a larger reform of NSA surveillance that the president promised, including inserting an adversarial 'privacy rights' voice in the secret FISA Court proceedings. And…who has the president tasked with setting up this NSA spying review group? The same guy who lied to Congress about NSA spying in the first place! We can only guess who might be appointed as the FISA Court’s 'privacy rights' advocate — maybe Diane Feinstein?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPresident’s Spy Review Commission Provides Unintended Comedy