Alternative News

‘How Money Walks’: Map shows cash fleeing states with high taxes

"The map’s author, Travis H. Brown, tracked the millions of people in the U.S. who moved from state to state, taking with them more than $2 trillion in adjusted gross income. Brown says Americans are fleeing high-tax states and moving to states that offer lower taxes. The big losers? New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio. The big gainers? Florida won the most, with $86 billion coming its way. Other gainers were Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Nevada." Continue reading →

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And the Natural Result of “Planned Obsolescence” is… (Drumroll)… Bankruptcy!

"The strike lasted 44 days, until GM gave in. It marked the rise of the UAW and the slippery slope of capitulation that would kill the automaker’s competitiveness. GM started to decentralize its production process so it could never be hijacked again. Detroit’s population became decentralized along with it. As people left, the tax base shrunk. To keep revenue up, taxes were raised on things that couldn’t be moved out of the city limits, like property. Because of high property taxes, people stopped improving buildings. Eventually, it wasn’t worth it to pay the property taxes. So people just left for greener pastures in taxpayer-friendly jurisdictions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnd the Natural Result of “Planned Obsolescence” is… (Drumroll)… Bankruptcy!

Fukushima Plant Admits Radioactive Water Leaked To Sea

"Japanese utility said Monday its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is likely leaking contaminated water into sea, acknowledging for the first time a problem long suspected by experts. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, also came under fire Monday for not disclosing earlier that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposures exceeding threshold levels for increased cancer risks was 10 times what it said released earlier. TEPCO has been repeatedly blamed for overlooking early signs, and covering up or delaying the disclosure of problems and mishaps." Continue reading →

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When Wearable Technology Interacts With Everyday Tools

"Driving is perhaps the prime time when your hands and eyes aren’t free, so with voice commands, the app will also be able to open the sunroof or change the temperature or do any number of other actions. So even though Glass Tesla is nestled in a niche that fewer than 50 people are likely to use, it’s on the cusp of something big. But Google Glass is too much of a departure from the present mobile computing paradigm to be covered under current safe-driving laws. It’s entirely possible that a decision could be made to ban Glass from moving vehicles, like it’s been banned in certain static locations. Such is the risk of the bleeding edge." Continue reading →

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Imagine the ‘outrage’ from environmentalists if it had been an oil derrick

"Dozens of birdwatchers who traveled to a Scottish island to see an extremely fast and rare swift have been left distraught after it was killed by a wind turbine. There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, bird watchers were understandably excited. A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia. But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingImagine the ‘outrage’ from environmentalists if it had been an oil derrick

Can fracking cause bigger, more frequent earthquakes?

"The most striking indication of human-induced earthquakes is provided by the graph below, which shows the cumulative number of earthquakes in the central and eastern US that were greater than or equal to magnitude 3.0 on the Richter scale. The clear increase from 2005 coincides with the rapid increase of shale gas wells and associated increased, deep waste-water injection. Between 2005 and 2012, the shale gas industry in the US grew by 45 percent each year. Three reports have been published this month in Science that add to our limited but growing data on the causal link between fluid injections and earthquakes." Continue reading →

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Safety Statistics Are Not to Be Ignored, Especially Not in Oil Transport

"An oil spill is 34 times more likely with a railway accident compared to just the aging pipeline infrastructure. So why then are we relying more and more on rail transports? The answer is simple: there is simply too much uninformed opposition to building new pipelines and replace the aging infrastructure criss-crossing North America. But the fact of the matter is this: for every day that we delay implementing a 'Casey Sensible Solution,' we are in fact putting rural communities such as Lac Mégantic at risk from either rail disasters or spills from pipelines that have been around since the Eisenhower administration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSafety Statistics Are Not to Be Ignored, Especially Not in Oil Transport

Sysco facing thousands in fines for ‘runaway train’ of food storage violations

"Food distributor Sysco could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in fines after officials with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) found insects and rodent droppings at storage sheds the company used for perishable foods throughout northern California, KNTV-TV reported on Tuesday. The station reported that it secretly filmed employees using sheds in six cities to store and transport pork, bread, lettuce and cheese items. One employee, who did not wish to be identified, told KNTV in an interview that the practice had been going on for more than a decade, saying, 'Enough is enough. The public needs to know where their food is coming from.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSysco facing thousands in fines for ‘runaway train’ of food storage violations

Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? Regulators Don’t Think So

"For the USDA and its sister food regulator, the FDA, there’s a problem: many of the farmers are distributing the food via private contracts like herd shares and leasing arrangements, which fall outside the regulatory system of state and local retail licenses and inspections that govern public food sales. In response, federal and state regulators are seeking legal sanctions against farmers in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, among others. These sanctions include injunctions, fines, and even prison sentences." Continue reading →

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The Secret Service Agent Who Collared Cybercrooks by Selling Them Fake IDs

"In addition to being a talented ID forger, Celtic was a Secret Service agent. The government calls it 'Operation Open Market,' a four-year investigation resulting, so far, in four federal grand jury indictments against 55 defendants in 10 countries, facing a cumulative millennium of prison time. What many of those alleged scammers, carders, thieves, and racketeers have in common is one simple mistake: They bought their high-quality fake IDs from a sophisticated driver’s license counterfeiting factory secretly established, owned, and operated by the United States Secret Service." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Secret Service Agent Who Collared Cybercrooks by Selling Them Fake IDs