Alternative News

Russian report on chemical attack indicates similarity with rebel-made weapons

"Probes from Khan al-Assal show chemicals used in the March 19 attack did not belong to standard Syrian army ammunition, and that the shell carrying the substance was similar to those made by a rebel fighter group, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated. The samples taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests, outlining the 100-page report handed over to the UN by Russia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian report on chemical attack indicates similarity with rebel-made weapons

Syria: Nobel Peace Laureate Tells Her Account of What She Witnessed

"Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Maguire tells her account of her visit to Syria. While Maguire was in Syria she discovered that the people the U.S. are funding are violent groups and do not want peace in Syria. Her her view is that Syria is being used as a proxy war by the U.S., Great Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyria: Nobel Peace Laureate Tells Her Account of What She Witnessed

Florida man cites ‘Bush doctrine’ after pre-emptive killing of neighbors

"Lawyers for a Florida man this week cited President George W. Bush’s pre-emptive war in Iraq and the 'Bush Doctrine' as a defense after their client killed two neighbors and attempted to kill a third on Labor Day. According to officials in Titusville, Woodward had snuck up on his neighbors while they were having a Labor Day barbecue. Police responding to the scene found that Gary Lee Hembree, Roger Picior and Bruce Timothy had all been shot. Hembree and Picior were later pronounced dead. Blake survived, even though he had been hit 11 times. In their motion, Woodward’s attorneys claimed that the victims had called him names and threatened to 'get him.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFlorida man cites ‘Bush doctrine’ after pre-emptive killing of neighbors

Leaked Sony ad for QX10 and QX100 lens cameras

"Sony still hasn't announced its QX10 and QX100 lens cameras, but the flood of leaks just isn't slowing down. An official video ad for the QX10 and X100 has now surfaced on the web, offering the best glimpse yet at how Sony envisions consumers using these unique products. In the clip, we see that linking the QX10 and QX100 with a smartphone will be a simple, one-touch process — at least with Sony's own Xperia hardware — and you'll be using the PlayMemories app to control each lens. Sony is also trying to push ease of use here, with one user effortlessly sliding his phone into a cradle before casually snapping images on the street." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeaked Sony ad for QX10 and QX100 lens cameras

Watch What Happens When the Camera is Turned On Cops

"There are now over 50,000 SWAT raids annually in America — the types of raids that were designed for and then perfected in the streets of Fallujah and Kandahar. Without radical restraints on the state’s power to initiate and dispense lethal force through its law enforcement agencies, our rights to life, liberty, and property are and will continue to be severely threatened. Yet despite the fact that U.S. law enforcement eerily resembles East Germany’s Stasi with even greater technological tools to inflict terror, all it takes is a tiny little camera on a cop’s chest to drastically minimize abuse, arbitrary coercion, and makes cops act like the peace officers they are intended to be." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWatch What Happens When the Camera is Turned On Cops

Syracuse’s ‘most prolific sex offender’ lied to acquire government job

"Despite having hired the man Syracuse police call the ‘most prolific sex offender’ in the area, Syracuse city officials confirmed to CNY NY that they don’t plan on changing their hiring practices or checking into the background of current employee. On the application, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, Carrigan was twice asked and twice lied about whether he had ever been convicted of a crime, felony or misdemeanor. When he was fired from his DPW job after a 2012 arrest for having oral sex with a 15-year-old boy, the city refused to amend its policy on background checks. Carrigan was a level three sex-offender when he applied for the job in 2009." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyracuse’s ‘most prolific sex offender’ lied to acquire government job

Edward Snowden Receives German Whistleblowing Award

"My gratitude belongs to all of those who have reached out to their friends and family to explain why suspicionless surveillance matters. It belongs to the man in a mask on the street on a hot day and the women with a sign and an umbrella in the rain, it belongs to the young people in college with a civil liberty sticker on their laptop, and the kid in the back of a class in high school making memes. All of these people accept that change begins with a single voice and spoke one message to the world: governments must be accountable to us for the decisions that they make. Decisions regarding the kind of world we will live in. What kind of rights and freedoms individuals will enjoy are the domain of the public." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden Receives German Whistleblowing Award

WikiLeaks’ ‘CableGate’ Server Up for Auction on eBay

"Server geeks and conspiracy theorists wanting to own a little piece of history have a shot at owning the actual server that was at the center of a political firestorm after WikiLeaks used it to release more than 250,000 secret U.S. embassy cables in 2011. Until yesterday the server was on display in a museum within the Thule Brunkow Ridge data center owned by Swedish hosting company Bahnhof, from which WikiLeaks rented the Dell pizza-box server in 2010. Bahnhof – which refers to itself as a Free Speech ISP – doesn’t say why it took the server down from its pedestal and put it up for sale, but does promise the money will go to non-profit free-speech organizations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWikiLeaks’ ‘CableGate’ Server Up for Auction on eBay

Mind Readers Crack Open New Tech Market

"Based in Israel, Beyond Verbal lives up to its name. The company has created technology that focuses not on what a person says, but how they say it. It goes 'beyond verbal,' using voice signals (such as intonation and modulation) in order to gauge the mood, feelings and emotions behind a person’s words and get a true representation of what they really think. It’s no gimmick, either. The Beyond Verbal team is made up of scientists, psychologists and neurologists who’ve worked on perfecting the Emotions Analytics technology since 1995. Over that time, they’ve conducted tests on 60,000 people in 27 languages to ensure that the technology works across the board." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMind Readers Crack Open New Tech Market

Boston mayor says he would ‘blow up’ Detroit, defuses situation with apology

"Boston Mayor Tom Menino apologized this week after saying that he would like to go to Detroit and 'blow up the place.' In an recent interview with The New York Times, Menino had been asked how he would handle Detroit’s bankruptcy if he were mayor. 'I’d blow up the place and start all over,' Menino said. 'No, seriously, when it takes a police officer 90 minutes to answer a call, there’s something wrong with the system. Forty percent of the streetlights are out, most of the buildings are boarded up. Why? Inaction, that’s the problem — leadership.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBoston mayor says he would ‘blow up’ Detroit, defuses situation with apology