Switzerland: The Other Currency Manipulator

"Switzerland is manipulating its currency for the exact same reason China does: to help exporters gain a price advantage. And Switzerland is a big net exporter, with a current account surplus (exports minus imports) of 12 percent of GDP, compared to just 3 percent for China. Why aren’t we freaking out about Swiss currency manipulation? Probably because Switzerland’s small scale helps us understand what a manipulated currency really means: cheaper Swiss goods for U.S. consumers. With China, we somehow get this backwards." Continue reading

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Wary Swiss Banks Shun Americans

"The new law, expected to be phased in over several years, requires foreign banks to identify Americans among their clients and to provide their financial information to the Internal Revenue Service. Just one person overlooked could mean a penalty equivalent to 30% of a bank's U.S. income. Most banks in Switzerland have little appetite to deal with such risk and are quietly—or openly—ushering American clients out or limiting the range of products offered to them, tax experts and bankers say." Continue reading

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Get a U.S. Passport Now – While You Still Can

"Until a century ago, almost anywhere you went in the world, passports were not required for international travel. Rare passports were used mainly to insure passage of diplomats sent to negotiate peace treaties or carry official papers. Now governments use passports as another part of citizen control and surveillance. Official passport control marked the Cold War years, but now it is applied with a bureaucratic, computer-driven vengeance, justified by the endless 'War on Terror.' I often get questions about the possibility of currency and capital controls, but thinking Americans should be equally concerned about foreign travel controls." Continue reading

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Ron Paul: The Internet Revolution is a Liberty Revolution

"Thanks to the Internet, it is easier than ever before for liberty activists to spread news and other information regarding the evils of government power and the benefits of freedom. For the first time in human history, supporters of liberty around the world can share information across borders quickly and cheaply. Without the filter of government censors, this information emboldens millions to question governments and promote liberty. This is why liberty-minded Americans must do everything possible to oppose − and stop − government attempts to censor or limit the free flow of information online." Continue reading

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UN Shoe Drops on Internet Terror

"United Nations report calls for Internet surveillance, saying lack of 'internationally agreed framework for retention of data' is a problem, as are open Wi-Fi networks in airports, cafes, and libraries. The United Nations is calling for more surveillance of Internet users, saying it would help to investigate and prosecute terrorists. What are the organizations behind the suggestion of a 'global surveillance state?' The article writes that the UN report was 'produced in collaboration with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, which counts the World Bank, Interpol, the World Health Organization, and the International Monetary Fund as members.'" Continue reading

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Obama Rep. Senator Chuck Schumer Says Questioning NDAA is “Biased”

"Senator Charles Schumor refuses to offer any explanation when questioned on his vote for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which gives the President the power to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial. To learn more about the NDAA: http://www.stopndaa.org" Continue reading

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Boy ordered to change schools for carrying cystic fibrosis gene

"School officials said they believe 11-year-old Colman Chadam’s genetic makeup may put other students at risk and ordered him to move from Palo Alto’s Jordan Middle School to another district middle school three miles away after his parents disclosed his condition on a medical form in the beginning of the school year. Colman has never had the lung problems associated with the disease, has never required treatment and tested negative on a sweat test, which is the definitive diagnostic test. The Chadmans said they only disclosed his condition out of an 'overabundance of caution'." Continue reading

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Texas Woman Jailed for Outing Narc on Facebook

"In a case that would appear to raise First Amendment questions, a Mesquite, Texas, woman has been arrested and charged with a felony after she allegedly posted a photograph of an undercover narcotics officer on Facebook and identified him as a narc. Melissa Walthall, 30, was charged with felony retaliation after Mesquite police deemed her post 'a viable threat to the officer's safety.' The photo was copied from the officer's own Facebook page." Continue reading

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NYPD informant who tracked militants quits, denounces police

"The informant, a 19-year-old American citizen of Bangladeshi descent, was recruited by the NYPD recently as part of an expansive intelligence-gathering program the department launched after the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001. His assignment was to make contact with suspected Islamic extremists to try to determine if they had any inclinations to engage in violence. On October 2, however, the informant, whom the source did not name, posted a message on his personal Facebook page exposing himself as an informant to people he had been in contact with. He declared that he had quit as a police informant." Continue reading

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Dept. of Veterans Affairs spent millions on PC software it couldn’t use

"After removable hard disks containing unencrypted personal identifying information of 26 million military veterans were stolen from the home of a VA employee in 2006, then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson mandated that the VA's Office of Information Technology install encryption software on all of the department's notebook and desktop computers. But while the VA purchased 400,000 licensees for Symantec's Guardian Edge encryption software, more than 84 percent of those licenses—worth about $5.1 million, including the maintenance contracts for them—remain uninstalled." Continue reading

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