Orwellian

Pilotless Planes, Pacific Tensions

"This week the Navy will launch an entirely autonomous combat drone — without a pilot on a joystick anywhere — off the deck of an aircraft carrier, the George H. W. Bush. The drone will then try to land aboard the same ship, a feat only a relatively few human pilots in the world can accomplish. This exercise is the beginning of a new chapter in military history: autonomous drone warfare. But it is also an ominous turn in a potentially dangerous military rivalry now building between the United States and China. To offset China’s numerical advantage and technological advances, the United States Navy is betting heavily on drones." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPilotless Planes, Pacific Tensions

Drones are cheaper and more powerful. In US, that’s a problem, lawmakers told

"With much of Capitol Hill riveted by IRS audits, AP phone records, and Benghazi e-mails, top US scholars gathered to testify in a little-watched congressional hearing that unmanned aircraft carrying cameras raise the specter of a 'significant new avenue for surveillance of American life,' as Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, characterized it for lawmakers Friday. 'Many Americans are familiar with these aircraft – commonly called drones – because of their use overseas in places like Afghanistan and Yemen. But drones are coming to America,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrones are cheaper and more powerful. In US, that’s a problem, lawmakers told

‘We could lose everything’: Tea Party groups prepare to sue IRS

"ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow told FoxNews.com he'll likely file the civil suits next Wednesday or Thursday on behalf of more than a dozen Tea Party groups who say they were singled out by the IRS and had their tax-exempt status severely delayed or denied altogether. Sekulow said the number of plaintiffs in the civil suit are growing as is the list of who his organization wants held accountable. It’s still unclear whether the organization will file as a class-action or individually in the 17 different states where the complaints originate. Litigation could take months or years and for some like Devereaux, time isn’t on their side." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘We could lose everything’: Tea Party groups prepare to sue IRS

5th Cincinnati IRS worker allegedly connected to scandal

"Despite the claim of just two employees being involved, FOX19 has exclusively learned from two separate sources that there could be at least four Cincinnati employees involved. Those four employees, whose names we have chosen to withhold until they have been officially confirmed, have each worked in the IRS Exempt Organizations Department. While the IRS is pointing at 'two rogue employees,' the number of organizations that were singled out has swelled to nearly 500. In addition, on Friday FOX19 obtained documents of a fifth Cincinnati IRS agent who reportedly came after a pro-life group in 2009." Continue reading →

Continue Reading5th Cincinnati IRS worker allegedly connected to scandal

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

"The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation, ABC News reports. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS Obamacare Office

Obama accepts resignation of IRS acting chief over ‘inexcusable’ tea party scandal

"Barack Obama fired the most senior tax official in the US on Wednesday in an effort to bring a speedy end to a scandal over the targeting for special scrutiny of Tea Party organisations and other conservative groups. The president said that the acting commissioner, Steven Miller, was asked to resign and that Miller had done so. Miller’s sacking followed an independent report by the Treasury’s inspector general, which found that the conduct in the IRS office in Cincinnati had been 'inappropriate'. Officials had picked out groups with the words Tea Party or Patriots in their titles and subjected their requests for tax-exempt status to extra scrutiny." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama accepts resignation of IRS acting chief over ‘inexcusable’ tea party scandal

Power to Tax = Power to Destroy

"Think, for a moment, about the implications of the IRS’s actions. If you dare to advocate a political position that it dislikes, will your taxes be audited? How much will it cost you to defend yourself? This is not small-time Chicago ward heeler politics. This is serious, criminal official misconduct on a massive scale. High IRS officials knew about and concealed their anti-conservative policy for two years, since at least June 29, 2011. Equally shocking, one of my least favorite bureaucrats, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, for a year falsely denied that the IRS had done the very thing they just finally admitted doing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPower to Tax = Power to Destroy

The Digital Trap in your Offshore Plan

"It is concerning to see people contacting their offshore lawyers, real estate agents, investment professionals, bankers, etc. using their Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail account. Even more concerning is how many offshore professionals were using these free US email accounts themselves. When I told these providers that US law enforcement authorities could access any emails over 6 months old without a warrant in any US-based email account, they were, by and large, surprised. Many discussions took place on how to help protect themselves and their customers by moving their email communications offshore, just like other services." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Digital Trap in your Offshore Plan

Skype with care – Microsoft is reading everything you write

"Back in January, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Reporters without Borders expressed concern that the restructuring resulting from the takeover meant that Skype would have to comply with US laws on eavesdropping and would therefore have to permit government agencies and secret services to access Skype communications. In summary, The H and heise Security believe that, having consented to Microsoft using all data transmitted over the service pretty much however it likes, all Skype users should assume that this will actually happen and that the company is not going to reveal what exactly it gets up to with this data." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSkype with care – Microsoft is reading everything you write

Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’

"The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was introduced to the militarization of domestic law enforcement. By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled 'Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies' the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries. The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention in the event of 'civil disturbances.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’