It’s A Trap

How to Use Public Health to Control Everything

"The early focus on a holistic public led to the movement of 'racial hygiene' which appeared in 19th century Germany. A historian of public health, Dorothy Porter, explains that the movement considered 'the health, not only of individuals, but of the race as a whole.' The trend was also called 'social hygiene,' and spread to other countries. It reached its zenith under the Nazis. In his fascinating book, The Nazi War on Cancer, Robert Proctor mentions some Nazi slogans: 'You have the duty to be healthy,' 'Food is not a private matter,' 'Your body belongs to the nation.'" Continue reading →

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Creepy: The State of California Pokes My Cell Phone

"Some cellphones received only a text message, others buzzed and beeped. Some people got more than one alert. It’s the Wireless Emergency Alert program, a cellphone version of the Emergency Alert System on your television. Cellphone owners receive messages automatically, based on their proximity to the emergency, not based on their phone number. 'If you’re from Texas and that’s where your phone number is based and you’re traveling in California at the time of the Amber Alert, you’ll receive the text message about the Amber Alert in California on your Texas-based phone,' said CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader." Continue reading →

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WaPo and Bezos: The Hope and the Reality

"The reality: Amazon to buy Washington Post fresh after $800M deal to host CIA servers — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 5, 2013. The CIA has reportedly signed a massive cloud computing deal with Amazon, worth up to $600 million over the next 10 years. FCW reports that its sources have told it Amazon will build a private cloud infrastructure for the CIA, to help it 'keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA's previous cloud efforts.' [..] Perhaps the single biggest item on Amazon’s legislative agenda is a bill that would empower all states to collect sales tax from online retailers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWaPo and Bezos: The Hope and the Reality

State Department ends ban on visas for same sex spouses of American citizens

"U.S. officials paved the way on Friday for same-sex spouses to visit or live in the United States, announcing the State Department will give equal treatment to visa applications of gays and lesbians who want to travel with their partner. Secretary of State John Kerry said the shift will allow the department to start processing requests from married gay couples the same way it handles those from heterosexual spouses. The move would help U.S. citizens live and travel with their same-sex spouse in the United State as well as allow married couples from other countries to visit the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState Department ends ban on visas for same sex spouses of American citizens

Chile to Join US Visa Waiver Program

"As Chileans become increasingly wealthy and have more disposable income, they are starting to travel more, and as more of them go on vacation or shopping sprees in the US. American's will eventually start to learn about this relatively small country of 17 million people. There will also inevitably be more information sharing between the US and Chilean governments. I know some people down here who aren't thrilled about this and are worried about politicians throughout the world being 'in cahoots' more and more every day. I agree; however, it's a situation that's not unique to Chile." Continue reading →

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Ride-sharing companies like Uber may lose ‘bandit cab’ stigma in California

"The draft rules to govern companies that already operate under such names as Lyft, SideCar and Uber, allowing passengers to electronically hail rides through smartphone applications, were unveiled by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Among the proposed regulations are requirements for ride-share operators to obtain a license with the PUC to do business in California, to submit their drivers to criminal background checks and to carry liability insurance of at least $1 million per incident. Taxi drivers registered their disapproval by staging a noisy demonstration against the ride-sharing services on Tuesday, circling San Francisco City Hall in their cabs." Continue reading →

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India’s falling GDP growth, financial inclusion and likely impact on Gold

"Governments have urged public sector banks to take up financial inclusion as a top priority and several initiatives have been taken to take banking to the door steps of the rural households. The lack of a well-developed banking system with sufficient penetration in rural areas could be a major reason for people to invest their savings in gold coins and jewellery. But the introduction of Aadhaar (universal identification system), and linking payment of subsidies through Aadhaar linked bank accounts could in course of time force people to think of alternatives to investing in gold, if they are found to be providing risk free returns." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin industry leaders launch DATA, a self-regulatory body for digital currencies

"The Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority will 'work proactively with regulators and policymakers to adapt their requirements to our technologies and business models,' said the new group, in an announcement earlier today. The list of backers is a Who’s Who of players in bitcoin. Tony Gallipi, CEO of payment processor BitPay, Chris Larsen, CEO of Ripple and founder of OpenCoin, and Patrick Murck, general counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation, are on board. TradeHill CEO Jered Kenna, who has been negotiating licenses with individual states for his high-net worth bitcoin exchange, is also a member." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin industry leaders launch DATA, a self-regulatory body for digital currencies

Don’t Let Bitcoin Morph into Govcoin

"Recently, Govcoin has become a metaphor for alterations to the core bitcoin protocol that reduce its fungibility, irreversibility or privacy to conform to certain government specifications for an 'appropriate' digital currency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has not yet confirmed to what extent the implementation of Regulation E by money transmitters will be applicable to licensed virtual currency providers. Also known as the Remittance Transfer Rule, compliance will be required by Oct. 28. It requires, among other items, prepayment disclosure, transaction receipts, and transaction cancellation within prescribed time limits." Continue reading →

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Holder promises not to pursue death penalty against Snowden

"Former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden would not face the death penalty or be tortured and would have all the protections of the U.S. civilian court system if he were sent home, the chief U.S. prosecutor wrote in a letter to his Russian counterpart this week. In the letter dated July 23 and released on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote that he sought to dispel claims about what would happen to Snowden if Russia handed him over to face charges of illegally disclosing government secrets about surveillance programs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHolder promises not to pursue death penalty against Snowden