statism

Nigel Farage Bashes Tax-Advantaged Hypocritical European Politicians

"If we look at the EU officials who work for the European Commission and the European Parliament, the highest category [the most common grade is AD12] are people that earn a net take home pay of just over 100 thousand pounds a year. And yet under EU rules they pay tax of 12 per cent. It is tax fraud on an absolutely massive scale. And Mr Barroso I would say to you, how can that be deemed to be fair? How can people out there struggling - the 16 million people unemployed in the eurozone - how can they look at these institutions, not only paying people vast sums of money but allowing them tax and pension benefits on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNigel Farage Bashes Tax-Advantaged Hypocritical European Politicians

Austria Turns Rat Fink

"Europe moved closer to ending banking secrecy on Wednesday after Austria dropped objections to sharing data on foreign depositors and the EU focused on negotiating a similar agreement with Switzerland. 'It's a bad day for tax cheats,' Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters at a meeting of EU leaders to discuss fighting tax fraud. 'We will act jointly and I believe we will manage the exchange of data by the end of the year.' Luxembourg and Austria had not wanted to reveal the names of account holders to other countries and instead allow banks to withhold tax, but under pressure from their European partners both have now agreed to." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustria Turns Rat Fink

Swiss banks face massive fines over Americans’ untaxed bank accounts

"Swiss banks holding US citizens’ funds that are not declared to American tax authorities are set to have to pay a massive fine, under a deal between Switzerland and Washington, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung, quoting sources familiar with the talks, said that the fine could reach 40 percent of the funds in question. Swiss media have reported that under a compromise hammered out by negotiators, the 300 banks in Switzerland would be classed according to their level of alleged complicity in tax evasion. The dozen banks seen as the main perpetrators would reportedly be forced to make a case-by-case deal with the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwiss banks face massive fines over Americans’ untaxed bank accounts

FDA often has slow and secretive response to flawed drug research

"The Food and Drug Administration left medicines on the market for years after discovering they were approved based on fraudulent studies by Cetero Research, which did testing for drug companies worldwide. Turns out that wasn’t an anomaly: The agency’s slow, secretive response in the Cetero case mirrors how it handled an earlier instance of scientific misconduct at another contract research organization, MDS Pharma Services. Just as in the Cetero case, the agency declined to make public a list of the 217 generic drugs, both on the shelves and awaiting approval, that it said could be affected by MDS’ potentially faulty research." Continue reading →

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FDA secretly retests 100 different drugs after testing company admits its work was all fraudulent

"Pamidi bluntly acknowledged that much of the lab’s work was fraudulent, Stone said. 'You got us,' Stone recalled him saying. Based partly on records in the file boxes, the FDA eventually concluded that the lab’s violations were so 'egregious' and of such a 'pervasive nature' that studies conducted there between April 2005 and August 2009 might be worthless. The health threat was potentially serious: About 100 drugs, including sophisticated chemotherapy compounds and addictive prescription painkillers, had been approved for sale in the United States at least in part on the strength of Cetero Houston’s tainted tests." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFDA secretly retests 100 different drugs after testing company admits its work was all fraudulent

NASA taps 3-D printer firm for ‘Star Trek’-style food replicator

"U.S. space agency NASA has tapped 3-D printer firm Systems & Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) to create the first-ever 'Star Trek'-style food replicator using 3-D printing technology. According to Quartz, NASA gave the company a six month, $125,000 grant contract to focus on developing 3-D printers that use cartridges full of carbohydrates, protein powders and oils that can be combined in layers to produce food. Grocery stores could be gradually transformed to ultra-cheap cartridge retailers while non-nutrient edible products are phased out by market forces." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNASA taps 3-D printer firm for ‘Star Trek’-style food replicator

‘Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’ calling for ban on ‘fully autonomous weapons’

"The idea of autonomous killer robots may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but human rights groups are already preparing for what appears to be the future of weaponry. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of international groups, is preparing for a global summit in Geneva Switzerland on Wednesday, May 29 that will review a U.N. report on these types of weapons that was released earlier this week. The Campaign hopes to convince nations to sign on to an international ban on autonomous weapons." Continue reading →

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Federal appeals court rules bin Laden death photos can remain classified

"A US appeals court ruled Tuesday that the federal government is not required to release photos that were taken of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden after he was killed by special forces. The Al-Qaeda leader was slain at his Pakistani compound in May 2011 by US Navy SEAL commandos, who took pictures of their target’s corpse in order to confirm the success of their mission. In a 14 page opinion, the judges wrote that The Central Intelligence Agency had refused to release the photos 'on the ground that the images were classified Top Secret. We affirm because the images were properly classified and hence are exempt from disclosure,' they ruled." Continue reading →

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Fort Hood shooting suspect paid $278,000 by Pentagon while in jail

"In a response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the station, the Defense Department confirmed that Nidal Hasan has continued to receive his usual salary while awaiting trial for an attack killing 13 service members and wounding 32 others due to a clause in the Military Code of Justice preventing his salary from being suspended unless he is proven guilty. Jury selection for Hasan’s trial is scheduled for May 29, with testimony set to begin on July 1. At the same time, the station reported that the Army has refused to classify the victims’ injuries as 'combat-related,' denying them wartime benefits accorded to service members and combat-related pay." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFort Hood shooting suspect paid $278,000 by Pentagon while in jail

As Thieves Troll Spanish Farmland, Villagers Begin Patrols

"Police officials say they have seen a steady rise in the crime rate in rural areas since 2009. Just about everything is a target. Three hundred onions one night. A rubber irrigation hose the next. In Albelda, thieves have taken diesel fuel, nail guns, electric clippers — even shampoo and soap that workers use. Elsewhere in Spain, particularly in coastal regions like Valencia where there is a lot of farming, villagers are organizing themselves into patrols, too. It is not a trend that police officials like much. But they understand it. In many areas, there are too few officers to cover acres and acres of farmland. And yet there are few useful alternatives to a watchful eye." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAs Thieves Troll Spanish Farmland, Villagers Begin Patrols