Bankocracy

How Will White House Find Legal Grounds to Bomb Syria?

"Obama is already breaking the UN charter by shipping arms to rebels, by training them, and by introducing covert CIA and mercenary operatives into Syria. He has already made the US an outlaw nation. Perhaps having already crossed the Rubicon of illegality, he doesn’t care if he advances further into that territory. Perhaps he feels that he can sell an aggressive attack on Syria on the basis of its being defensive and his being in the right. But since America is not threatened, there is no such rationale on the basis of defense possible." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Will White House Find Legal Grounds to Bomb Syria?

Rand Paul: Syria lacks security connection

"Sen. Rand Paul said the U.S. has 'no clear national security connection' to the war in Syria and called for a debate in Congress over possible military action in the country. The Kentucky Republican — who has been an outspoken advocate against military action in Syria — said in a statement the U.S. should 'condemn' the use of chemical weapons and determine who deployed them. But the decision of whether the conflict demands U.S. action should come from Congress, he added, not President Barack Obama. 'The war in Syria has no clear national security connection to the United States and victory by either side will not necessarily bring in to power people friendly to the United States,' Paul said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRand Paul: Syria lacks security connection

A Real and Lasting Peace

"Seems as if supplying Syrian rebels with arms just isn’t enough. The US government and its Western allies are about to unleash direct military force in the small Middle Eastern country. We have heard the drumbeat of war for a long time – now as early as Thursday bombs may start falling on Syria. Instead of regime change, we are told, US military forces just seek to 'send a strong message' to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to stop (apparently) using chemical weapons. A humble, non-interventionist, foreign policy is no good — to be humanitarian we must bomb other populations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Real and Lasting Peace

How New Zealand banned software patents without violating international law

"What do you do when you’re a small country with a technology industry convinced that innovation requires the banning of software patents, but you’ve signed an international treaty that in theory obliges you to make software patentable? If you’re New Zealand, you simply declare that software isn’t an invention in the first place. In 1998, the head of the UK Patent Office commented that European law says that a piece of pure software is not technically an invention. In New Zealand, a poll of the members of the Institute of IT Professionals revealed that 94% were in favor of banning software patents. In India, courts have upheld that country’s ban on software patents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow New Zealand banned software patents without violating international law

Jeffrey Tucker: Canada: Land of the Freer?

"With QuickBt, consumers are buying bitcoins and then transferring them to merchants. No harm, no real money exchange as traditionally defined, no sneaky financial trickery. It's just business, and the Canadian regulators have said: it's not our business. Meanwhile, just south of the border, regulators are putting the fear of government into every conceivable crypto-currency merchant. Congress is issuing warnings. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is exacting fees. The feds are driving services out of existence. It's so bad that Bitcoin advocates are reduced to Stockholm-like begging: 'Please regulate us as soon as possible.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeffrey Tucker: Canada: Land of the Freer?

NJ: Text Recipients Can Be Held Liable In Texting-And-Driving Accidents

"Drivers in New Jersey were left stunned, after state Appeals Court judges found that when a driver is texting and causes an accident, the recipient of the texts can also be held liable for negligence. As CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez reported Tuesday night, the decision stemmed from a 2009 accident where a 17-year-old girl texted a friend just before that friend crashed his pickup truck into a Morris County couple on a motorcycle. A state Appeals Court ruled 'that a person sending text messages has a duty not to text someone who is driving if the texter knows, or has special reason to know, the recipient will view the text while driving.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNJ: Text Recipients Can Be Held Liable In Texting-And-Driving Accidents

Bitcoin offers privacy—as long as you don’t cash out or spend it

"Using special algorithms, the researchers were able to associate large numbers of seemingly anonymous bitcoins addresses with certain major services such as exchanges and payment processors, said Sarah Meiklejohn, a doctoral candidate in computer science at UC San Diego, who assisted in the research. For example, they linked more than 500,000 Bitcoin addresses with Mt. Gox, a popular exchange in Japan where users buy and sell bitcoins. 'We saw a lot of people deposit into Silk Road directly from their Mt. Gox address,' Meiklejohn said. In those cases, law enforcement would have minimal work to obtain the name of a user if they presented a legal order to Mt. Gox." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin offers privacy—as long as you don’t cash out or spend it

American anti-virus mogul McAfee warns Canadians about government spying

"As an anti-virus software tycoon at the head of McAfee Security, he says his early clients ranged from the CIA to the American navy and air force. 'The first six years of McAfee, 90 per cent of our income came from the government. The First Gulf War I donated $40 million worth of software to the U.S. Army,' he says. McAfee said intelligence officials were worried that encryption technology would get out of the U.S. and into the wrong hands. McAfee also says the growth of electronic currencies like Bitcoin is unstoppable, despite efforts by governments to curb their use. 'It will be everywhere and the world will have to readjust. World governments will have to readjust.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican anti-virus mogul McAfee warns Canadians about government spying

Jeffrey Tucker: We’re All Edward Snowden Now

"In the course of only a few decades, everything unraveled. The monopoly over communication that the government once maintained had been completely smashed. This situation has persisted for about 15 years — a near-anarchist paradise of human sharing and interaction through technological innovation. What’s going on today is really the reaction and response by the elites. They want their power and control back. They are trying to get it through the oldest form of government control surveillance and the blackmail that comes with it. It’s the tactic guards used to control prisoners. It’s the tactic government is using to fight its way back toward having control over our lives." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeffrey Tucker: We’re All Edward Snowden Now

Freedom Requires Whistleblowers: The Importance of Transparency

"Does it bother you that government agencies are able to spy on everything you do online? The power we give to one set of leaders continues to the next, whether you agree with them or not. Prof. James Otteson says we should be concerned about government overreach. The government should be accountable to the citizens, not the other way around. Whistleblowers play an important role in making sure the people know when the government is doing things it shouldn't do." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFreedom Requires Whistleblowers: The Importance of Transparency