Land Of The Flea

U.S. officials arrest Swiss banker on vacation

"U.S. officials have arrested a former UBS (UBSN.VX) banker working for the Swiss operations of Coutts, the private banking division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS.L), sources told Reuters. The arrest comes as U.S. authorities crack down on tax evasion and has revived Swiss bankers' fears that they could face detention if they travel to the United States and are suspected of helping people hide money in offshore accounts. Coutts notified staff in Geneva on Friday that one of its private bankers had been arrested last week when he entered the U.S. for a vacation, a source familiar with the situation said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. officials arrest Swiss banker on vacation

Dronebusters: Turning Spy Drones into Barney Fife

"An Oregon company says that it has developed a new technology which will prevent drones from 'completing their mission.' It will not say how this technology does this. It does not say what it will cost. But it claims that commercial units will be affordable for private homes. Whether local governments will place restrictions on its use, the way some states have made using car-based radar speed trap detectors illegal, also is yet to be seen. The important thing is that the company says the technology exists. There will probably be cheap Chinese knock-offs. The creativity of the free market works against the government. So does the basic incompetence of the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDronebusters: Turning Spy Drones into Barney Fife

Do You Suffer from Philosophical Intoxication?

"That's the term used by the Soviet government against critics of that government as a rationale for imprisoning political dissenters in mental hospitals. It is also apparently the plan by the current sheriff of Palm Beach County, Florida, Rick Bradshaw. Bradshaw recently was awarded a $1 million grant from the Florida state legislature for a new 'violence prevention unit.' 'We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government,' Sheriff Bradshaw told the Palm Beach Post. He is planning a telephone 'hotline and is planning public service announcements to encourage residents to report their neighbors, friends, or family members'." Continue reading →

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Citizen Arrested at Suspicionless Checkpoint for Not Obeying Petty Commands

"In Georgia, a citizen was arrested last month at an unconstitutional checkpoint for refusing to obey cops demanding he fully roll down his car window. The man was arrested for 'obstructing justice,' in other words for not completely submitting to domination and submission procedures the state now requires as it wantonly violates the Fourth Amendment. The state’s men (and a couple women) in black, otherwise known as the Supreme Court, have ruled that suspicionless revenue-generating roadblocks are not unconstitutional." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCitizen Arrested at Suspicionless Checkpoint for Not Obeying Petty Commands

Zero Tolerance Watch: Teen Faces Felony Charges for Science Experiment

"No one was hurt. There's no sign that Wilmot was up to something malevolent. The kid's own principal thinks this wasn't anything more than an experiment, and he says she didn't try to cover up what she had done. What punishment do you think she received? A stern talking-to? A day or two of after-school detention? Maybe she'll have to help clean up the lab for a week? Nope. The budding chemist has been kicked out of school and charged with a couple of felonies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingZero Tolerance Watch: Teen Faces Felony Charges for Science Experiment

Eagle Scout Facing Expulsion over Gun Charge

"Eagle Scout Cole Withrow was just a few weeks from graduating with honors from his North Carolina high school, but now the active church member is facing a felony weapons charge and a precarious future after accidentally leaving a shotgun in his pickup truck in the school parking lot. Most members of the Johnston County community, just southeast of Raleigh believe the 18-year-old is paying far too big a price for an honest mistake. Withrow, who did his senior class project on gun safety, locked the gun in his truck before going to call his mother. But when he asked her to come and take the gun, the trouble started." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEagle Scout Facing Expulsion over Gun Charge

Fincen’s New Regulations Are Choking Bitcoin Entrepreneurs

"More than a decade ago, regulators nearly suffocated PayPal. Now it looks like they’re trying to squelch another disruptive, innovative payments system. At least three exchanges in the U.S. that traded the digital currency Bitcoin have shut down, apparently as a result of guidance issued last month by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. That agency has emerged as the top threat, at least in in the United States, to the decentralized Bitcoin network – moreso than the widely reported price volatility and hacker attacks. The fact that bitcoin survives at all with so many powerful forces lined up against it is a testament to its resiliency and tenacity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFincen’s New Regulations Are Choking Bitcoin Entrepreneurs

The history of the requirement that U.S. citizens use U.S. passports to travel

"This requirement traces its roots all the way back to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. However, it’s worth remembering two rather amusing facts about the law as it originally stood: it only required United States citizens to bear a 'valid passport' and not a 'valid United States passport', and it only applied in time of war or national emergency. In 1994, a 'technical amendment' added the requirement that the passport used by a U.S. citizen to enter the United States be a U.S. passport. The restriction that the harsh passport control laws would only apply in wartime was removed by the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1979." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe history of the requirement that U.S. citizens use U.S. passports to travel

Feds Threaten Medical Pot Dispensaries with 40-Year Sentences

"Landlords are receiving threatening letters from US Attorney Melinda Haag, warning of forty-year-prison sentences if landlords do not evict their dispensary tenants. In October 2011, Haag and three other US Attorneys declared war on California’s estimated $1.3 billion medical marijuana industry, threatening hundreds of landlords with forfeiture. Hundreds of dispensaries across the state moved or closed. Haag is attempting to seize Harborside Health Center in Oakland, as well as its sister club in San Jose. Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown said California didn’t need 'federal gendarmes' kicking in the doors of lawful businesses." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds Threaten Medical Pot Dispensaries with 40-Year Sentences