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With Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Anarchists Have Begun Project “Free Detroit”

"With much of the city in disarray and literally moving away, the cost of living has gone down dramatically with housing prices in some cases reaching only a single dollar. Michigan market-anarchists from the 'Michigan Peace and Liberty Coalition' are coming together to put 'theory into reality' when it comes to free markets. In their plans, coalition members believe they’ll be purchasing an estimated five blocks of property. Free Detroit members hope to provide food production, security, water collection, education, construction, communications, child services and many others – through agorism, without any government intervention." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Anarchists Have Begun Project “Free Detroit”

How to Retire Gracefully in Your Own Community, Not Sun City

"Twelve years ago, a handful of older residents living in a tiny section in Boston gathered to figure out a way they could 'age in place' in the neighborhood they so dearly loved. They launched the Beacon Hill Village, a nonprofit membership organization that provides free or low-cost services to seniors who have chosen to live in their own homes. The services include social clubs, weekly exercise classes and lectures, transportation to doctors’ offices and grocery stores and access to reduced-fee home medical care and home repair services. Beacon Hill Village now boasts 400 members and the concept has spread to other communities across the country." Continue reading →

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Protected plates give growing number of officials the green-light to avoid fines

"In Colorado, special license plates issued to 100 state lawmakers and representatives not only shield them from radar tickets for speeding, but also prevent collection notices on past-due parking tickets. That’s because the legislative plates in Colorado aren’t entered into the Division of Motor Vehicles database. If someone with a special license plate blows through the speed limit and is caught on radar, there is no actual information in the state’s records to cross-reference the plate. A Denver-based CBS investigation revealed 16 legislative license plates that have accumulated more than $2,000 in fines and penalties that have not been paid." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingProtected plates give growing number of officials the green-light to avoid fines

Small Businesses Are Trapped by ObamaCare

"Small businesses hoping to avoid the high costs of ObamaCare by switching to part-time employees got some unwelcome news last Thursday, as Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner reported that the Small Business Administration launched a website to explain to employers that the federal government will add up the number of part-time staff employed to determine if enough hours have been worked to meet the 'full-time equivalent' criterion." Continue reading →

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Obama Thinks Americans Don’t Need to Know

"The day after his first inauguration, Obama proclaimed 'a new era of openness in our country.' Yet, in office, he’s driven state secrecy to new levels of absurdity. You may think that Americans have a right to know who we’re at war with, when the government thinks it can kill them, and whether the executive branch considers the personal data of all Americans “relevant” to terrorism investigations — but this administration begs to differ. As far as it’s concerned, you can’t handle the truth." Continue reading →

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Americans Giving Up Passports Jump Sixfold as Tougher Rules Loom

"Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship surged sixfold in the second quarter from a year earlier as the government prepares to introduce tougher asset-disclosure rules. The U.S., the only nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside, is searching for tax cheats in offshore centers, including Switzerland, as the government tries to curb the budget deficit. Shunned by Swiss and German banks and facing tougher asset-disclosure rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, more of the estimated 6 million Americans living overseas are weighing the cost of holding a U.S. passport." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmericans Giving Up Passports Jump Sixfold as Tougher Rules Loom

Lavabit chief predicts ‘long fight’ with feds (Q&A)

"Ladar Levison can't talk for legal reasons about the specifics of why he shut down Lavabit, his encrypted Web e-mail company, but he was hardly tight-lipped about the subject. Levison, a San Francisco native and an enthusiastic beach-and-sand volleyball player who moved to Texas to go to college, currently resides in Dallas. In an phone interview about the decision to shutter Lavabit, Levison spoke about the connection between Lavabit and the Patriot Act, how he thinks the laws regarding privacy ought to change, and how the American government is failing to uphold the U.S. Constitution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit chief predicts ‘long fight’ with feds (Q&A)

U.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files

"The shutdown of two small e-mail providers on Thursday illustrates why it is so hard for Internet companies to challenge secret government surveillance: to protect their customers’ data from federal authorities, the two companies essentially committed suicide. In effect, both businesses destroyed their assets — in part or in full — to avoid turning over their customers’ data. Such public displays are far more difficult for large companies to make, and help explain why the most public efforts to challenge secret government orders have come from small companies and nonprofits." Continue reading →

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Border Patrol agent who shot Mexican teenager dead will not be charged

"U.S. authorities will not bring charges against a Border Patrol agent in Arizona who shot dead a rock-throwing Mexican teenager two years ago because the fatal injury did not occur in the United States, the Justice Department said on Friday. An unidentified Border Patrol agent shot Ramses Barron, a 17-year-old Mexican citizen, through the border fence in Nogales, Arizona, in the early hours of January 5, 2011. Over the past five years, U.S. border agents have fired into Mexico at least 10 times, killing six Mexicans, according to a report released earlier this year by the Washington Monthly and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute." Continue reading →

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In Switzerland, Marijuana Use Helps Keep Prisons Calm and Safe

"A recent study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy estimates that 50 to 80 percent of inmates in Swiss prisons use marijuana. Prison staff told researchers they found marijuana to be a relatively safe drug and that cracking down on consumption would have more negative effects than positive ones. Surveys of detainees and guards revealed similar opinions on marijuana use, with both groups describing the effects of marijuana as analgesic, calming and a way to decrease the traumatic prison experience." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn Switzerland, Marijuana Use Helps Keep Prisons Calm and Safe