Mainstream News

New Jersey’s decision to allow post-Sandy email voting prompts firestorm of protest

"Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno said the move was designed 'to help alleviate pressure on polling places.' But some experts say email voting, which is being allowed by some states for military and overseas voters, has not been tested on a large scale and opens up a host of technical and legal obstacles. Email ballots could be vulnerable to hacking or computer viruses, and could put the election at risk, says Matt Blaze, a University of Pennsylvania computer scientist specializing in security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Jersey’s decision to allow post-Sandy email voting prompts firestorm of protest

Peace group says European Nobel prize is ‘unlawful’

"The Swedish industrialist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896, said in his testament that the award should go to the 'person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.' The International Peace Bureau noted that the EU 'is not seeking to realise a demilitarisation of international relations', and that its members 'condone security based on military force and have waged wars rather than insisting on the need for alternative approaches.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeace group says European Nobel prize is ‘unlawful’

Support for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

"It wasn’t so long ago that the following statement could only appear in a dystopian novel or movie script. The U.S. President has killed an American citizen without due process, without even charging him with a crime. His decision to do this has been challenged by members of neither party. While the media-fueled frenzy goes on about how supposedly different Romney and the conservatives are from Obama and the liberals, no one even raises an eyebrow about this terrifying political development. Not even the left, which quite correctly howled at the Bush administrations’ assaults on freedom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupport for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

Obama executive order expands Homeland Security reach into local law enforcement

"The executive order creates a White House Homeland Security Partnership Council and Steering Committee, aimed at fostering local partnerships between federal and private institutions 'to address homeland security challenges.' The council will be chaired by 'the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, or a designee from the National Security Staff.' The executive order comes weeks after a damning Senate report on Homeland Security’s 77 fusion centers, which the Washington Post called 'pools of ineptitude, waste and civil liberties intrusions.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama executive order expands Homeland Security reach into local law enforcement

Israeli PM ordered strike on Iran in 2010

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak in 2010 ordered the army to prepare an attack against Iranian nuclear installations, though the order was later rescinded, Israeli television said Sunday. According to private television Channel 2, the order was not implemented due to opposition from the army chief at the time, General Gabi Ashkenazi, and from then Mossad chief Meir Dagan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsraeli PM ordered strike on Iran in 2010

Kuwait police use stun grenades against protest

"Kuwaiti riot police used stun grenades and smoke bombs against thousands of demonstrators who blocked a major road south of the capital on Sunday as the emir met four leading opposition figures. After elite special forces and police completely sealed off the original protest site in Kuwait City, organisers told supporters via Twitter to gather instead at Mishref, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the capital. The government had vowed to use force if necessary to prevent the march, saying that processions and demonstrations are illegal without a permit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKuwait police use stun grenades against protest

Israel admits to 1988 Mossad assasination of ‘PLO No.2 Abu Jihad’

"Israel has for the first time admitted assassinating the PLO’s former number two, Abu Jihad, in a raid on the movement’s Tunis headquarters in 1988, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The report, published in Israel’s top-selling Yediot Aharonot, said the operation was planned by the Mossad spy agency and carried out by the Sayeret Matkal elite commando unit. Abu Jihad, whose real name was Khalil al-Wazir, was shot dead in the early hours of April 16, 1988 in a commando raid on the PLO headquarters by what was presumed to be Israeli agents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsrael admits to 1988 Mossad assasination of ‘PLO No.2 Abu Jihad’

How to Fix the Gas Shortage: Let ’em Gouge

"A lot of people suppose that the anti-gouging laws are a remnant of some puritan past, like laws that ban buying alcohol on Sundays. But they aren’t. The first one was passed in New York in 1979 in response to rising heating oil prices, according to an essay on the laws by Michael Gibberson published in Regulation last year. Three more states adopted similar laws in the 1980s, eleven more in the 1990s, and 16 in the last decade. These aren’t ancient blue laws—they are a growing legal innovation. Again you’re probably asking: why? As it turns out there is one set of actors who does benefit from these laws—politicians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow to Fix the Gas Shortage: Let ’em Gouge

Close monitoring of prostate tumors may make radiation, surgery unnecessary

"Close monitoring of prostate cancer tumours may make radiation and surgery — which can cause incontinence and impotence — unnecessary, a new study has shown. Prostate cancer is one of the slowest-growing forms of the disease, and many men with tumours may never develop symptoms during their lifetime, meaning that many are treated unnecessarily — often with serious side-effects. A study has now shown that many prostate cancer sufferers may dispense with treatment if they opt instead to undergo active surveillance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingClose monitoring of prostate tumors may make radiation, surgery unnecessary