"In June 2014, the government seized Ken Quran's entire bank account—more than $150,000. This was money that Ken worked for years to earn, and that he was counting on for his retirement. Ken had no prior warning before the government seized the account. The government told him they were taking the money because he withdrew cash from the bank in amounts under $10,000." Continue reading →
"In two years--since government increased duty on gold to 10% to rein in a yawning current account deficit—gold smuggling has grown by 900%. That as an accepted principle seizures could be less than 10% of actual smuggling, the figures look even more ominous. Sources say gold has also begun to be smuggled in ever unique ways and from rather unexpected corners. There is a silver lining to the grim story though. There is an unexpected drop in Nepal which had seen a massive spurt in gold smuggling in the past couple of years. The reason: the kingpin of illicit yellow metal trade in the Himlayan nation died under the rubble of his house in Kathmandu during the recent quake." Continue reading →
"Lawyers for a Florida man this week cited President George W. Bush’s pre-emptive war in Iraq and the 'Bush Doctrine' as a defense after their client killed two neighbors and attempted to kill a third on Labor Day. According to officials in Titusville, Woodward had snuck up on his neighbors while they were having a Labor Day barbecue. Police responding to the scene found that Gary Lee Hembree, Roger Picior and Bruce Timothy had all been shot. Hembree and Picior were later pronounced dead. Blake survived, even though he had been hit 11 times. In their motion, Woodward’s attorneys claimed that the victims had called him names and threatened to 'get him.'" Continue reading →
"A Colorado mother and daughter were sentenced on Wednesday for their roles in a 'Nigerian internet romance scam.' Karen and Tracy Vasseur were convicted of stealing more than $1 million from 374 victims who thought they were sending money to aid members of the U.S. military. Unknown conspirators in Nigeria would establish online relationships with victims via e-mail or social media by sending them fake military documents and personal photographs. After the relationship was established, the purported military member would request large sums of money, ostensibly for satellite phones that would allow them to speak to the victims or travel funds that would allow them to visit." Continue reading →
"An anti-terrorism court last month charged Musharraf with the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack after a political rally in December 2007. It was the first time a head of Pakistan’s army has been charged with a crime, challenging beliefs that the military is immune from prosecution and threatening to fan tensions with civilian institutions. While murder will be difficult to prove, it may embolden efforts to try Musharraf for treason for seizing power in 1999 and for violating the constitution by sacking judges and imposing emergency rule in 2007. Treason can carry the death penalty." Continue reading →
"Despite the hefty cost of operating the secret operations amid sequestration, excerpts from the summary leaked by Snowden show that the US still has significant setbacks keeping it from achieving its intelligence goals. For one, the disclosure in and of itself demonstrates the intelligence community’s inability to prevent sensitive information from being leaked. For those nations of upmost interest, the intelligence community is investing heavily on 'offensive cyber operations' launched by the CIA and NSA to hack foreign competitors, steal data and sabotage servers, at a time when, domestically, so-called cybercriminals are prosecuted at an alarming rate for comparably less harsh crimes." Continue reading →
"A Robin Hood-style band of Spanish left-wing activists openly stole cart-loads of school supplies from a supermarket on Friday, promising to distribute them to needy children. More than 200 members of the Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (Andalusian Union of Workers) emerged from a Carrefour supermarket in the southern city of Seville pushing about 10 shopping carts brimming with exercise books, pens, felt-tips and dictionaries. They loaded the back-to-school supplies into vans and left. School materials 'expropriated' this time would be given to needy families in the next few days, the union said in a statement, describing it as a 'symbolic act for equal opportunity'." Continue reading →
"RAT operators have nearly complete control over the computers they infect; they can (and do) browse people's private pictures in search of erotic images to share with each other online. They even have strategies for watching where women store the photos most likely to be compromising. Women who have this done to them, especially when the spying escalates into blackmail, report feeling paranoia. One woman targeted by the California "sextortionist" Luis Mijangos wouldn't leave her dorm room for a week after Mijangos turned her laptop into a sophisticated bugging device. Mijangos began taunting her with information gleaned from offline conversations." Continue reading →
"Afghanistan war vet/killer Robert Bales was sentenced today to life in prison without parole after he was convicted of killing sixteen Afghan villagers. Actually, he was convicted of being caught killing sixteen Afghan villagers. God only knows how many thousands more civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. And since U.S. soldiers were invaders, not defenders, they are guilty of murdering everyone that died at their hands in Afghanistan. If we are going to lock up Bales for life, then he should be joined by thousands more. Of course, we know that this will never happen. If you kill only those whom the government says to kill, then that is okay." Continue reading →
"Afghanistan war vet/killer Robert Bales was sentenced today to life in prison without parole after he was convicted of killing sixteen Afghan villagers. Actually, he was convicted of being caught killing sixteen Afghan villagers. God only knows how many thousands more civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. And since U.S. soldiers were invaders, not defenders, they are guilty of murdering everyone that died at their hands in Afghanistan. If we are going to lock up Bales for life, then he should be joined by thousands more. Of course, we know that this will never happen. If you kill only those whom the government says to kill, then that is okay." Continue reading →