With Montana’s Lead, States May Demand Warrants for Cellphone Data

"The Montana Legislature this spring passed a location information privacy bill, which requires a search warrant for location information recorded by an 'electronic device.' There are exceptions to the warrant requirement, including when the cellphone is reported stolen or to respond to a cellphone user’s emergency call. Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana, signed it into law on May 6. The American Civil Liberties Union, which tracks cellphone tracking laws across the country, called it the first such state legislation. Over a dozen other states have eyed similar measures just this year." Continue reading

Continue ReadingWith Montana’s Lead, States May Demand Warrants for Cellphone Data

US sends Irish government arrest warrant for Snowden

"The Government has received a request from the US authorities to arrest fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. The provisional arrest warrant received by the Irish Government from the US authorities is now being handled by the extradition Unit in the Garda’s crime and security branch based in Garda headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin. The warrant has been issued as a pre-emptive strike against any effort by Mr Snowden to evade the US authorities by flying from Moscow to Havana on a commercial flight that stops off at Shannon for refuelling. The warrant would enable the Garda to arrest Mr Snowden under the Extradition Act 1965." Continue reading

Continue ReadingUS sends Irish government arrest warrant for Snowden

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says no country will have to leave eurozone

"Pushing her message of the need for greater fiscal discipline, structural reform and strengthened competitiveness, she said: 'All of us have to jointly become better, and for that we need European unity.' Merkel, who faces elections on September 22 in Europe’s biggest economy, has long championed fiscal discipline that has forced painful spending cuts in countries such as Greece and Spain. More recently she has focussed on the need to help the victims of the crisis, almost six million jobless under-25-year-olds, and repeatedly said that 'Germany will only do well if Europe does well'." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel says no country will have to leave eurozone

European Central Bankers Promise Monetary Inflation for Years

"It’s official: the Bank of England and the European Central Bank announced a policy of guaranteed counterfeiting on a permanent basis. They will keep short-term interest rates low for years. They did not say for how many years. The promise of unlimited counterfeiting pushed up European stock markets. This joint announcement makes it clear that Europe’s central banks have no exit policy, any more than the Federal Reserve does. Once a central bank adopts monetary inflation, it cannot stop without creating a recession. Europe’s central bankers have decided that they prefer risking price inflation as opposed to recession." Continue reading

Continue ReadingEuropean Central Bankers Promise Monetary Inflation for Years

French and British Spying Rivals NSA’s

"Reports are now getting out that the French government and the British government both run data-monitoring programs that involve spying as comprehensive as NSA’s. But this is not getting as much attention, because they have not had leakers with stolen documents that prove this. The protests of European governments against NSA spying on their people turns out to be turf war. The government’s politicians resent the fact that the NSA has invaded their turf. Only domestic spies are allowed to spy on domestic populations in European countries. Privacy is a thing of the past all over the world. The cost of spying on us keeps falling." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFrench and British Spying Rivals NSA’s

58,000 Californians Will Lose Health Care Insurance in 2014.

"Two insurance companies have announced that they will no longer offer health care insurance to individuals in California next year. They will sell policies only to group insurance policies. Obama promised this: 'If you like your health insurance, keep it.' He and Pelosi forget this: 'Of course, your existing company may decide not to sell it to you after we’re finished with the health insurance system.' Nobody says that companies have to sell policies that are money-losers. So, the way for companies to protect themselves against rising claims is to pull out of the market. If other firms think they want the risk, they can keep selling these individual policies." Continue reading

Continue Reading58,000 Californians Will Lose Health Care Insurance in 2014.

New York Gun Manufacturer Moves to Pennsylvania. “Catch Us if You Can.”

"New York passed the SAFE law on gun manufacturers in January, after debating for one day. That sent a message to one gun manufacturer. It bought 600 acres — almost a square mile — of land in Pennsylvania. It’s moving out. The Kahr company’s vice president of sales explained: 'One of our big concerns was, OK, the SAFE Act was passed in the middle of the night. You wake up the next morning and boom, that was it. We just felt like, gee, if they can do this, what can they do next?' This used to be called 'voting with your feet.' If you get tired of living under a government’s taxes and regulations, you move." Continue reading

Continue ReadingNew York Gun Manufacturer Moves to Pennsylvania. “Catch Us if You Can.”

Privacy group to file Supreme Court petition against NSA surveillance program

"The Domestic Surveillance Project division of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) announced Thursday that it plans to file a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court (FISC) ruling which authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect metadata on domestic phone calls. Domestic Surveillance Project Director Amie Stepanovich made the announcement at a Restore the Fourth rally in Washington on Thursday, one of several rallies across the country dedicated to protesting the NSA’s sweeping spying programs and invoke the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures." Continue reading

Continue ReadingPrivacy group to file Supreme Court petition against NSA surveillance program

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales threatens to close U.S. embassy

"Bolivia’s president threatened to close the US embassy as leftist Latin American leaders joined him in blasting Europe and the United States after his plane was rerouted amid suspicions US fugitive Edward Snowden was aboard. President Evo Morales, who has suggested the United States pressured European nations to deny him their airspace, warned he would 'study, if necessary, closing the US embassy in Bolivia.' 'We don’t need a US embassy in Bolivia,' he said. 'My hand would not shake to close the US embassy. We have dignity, sovereignty. Without the United States, we are better politically, democratically.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingBolivia’s President Evo Morales threatens to close U.S. embassy