Sudden Outbreak of Common Sense

Putin supports bill granting amnesty to white-collar criminals

"Putin said the new law would cover only those who committed business-related crimes for the first time and not be applied to repeat offenders. The amnesty has been heavily backed by Russia’s business community as well as human rights figures who argue that bureaucrats use complex laws to hound entrepreneurs and jail those who refuse to pay heavy bribes. In a keynote address to the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin also unveiled a $13.7-billion stimulus package designed to help Russia spend its way out of an economic slump that threatens to reach recession by the end of the year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin supports bill granting amnesty to white-collar criminals

Hong Kong says Snowden has left the country despite U.S. extradition request

"Hong Kong said in a statement that it allowed Snowden to leave despite an extradition request from the U.S. because documents provided by the U.S. government did not 'fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.' It said there was no legal basis to stop Snowden from leaving, and the U.S. had been informed of his departure. Hong Kong also said it had asked the U.S. to clarify reports, based on interviews with Snowden, that the NSA had hacked into computers in Hong Kong and would follow up on the matter 'to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHong Kong says Snowden has left the country despite U.S. extradition request

Military Police Officers Sit, Join Protesters In Brazil

"A dramatic video that has gone viral since being posted Tuesday shows a small group of military police officers joining a protest in Sao Paulo. In the video, a large crowd of mostly young activists erupts into applause when the six military officers, clad in light blue uniforms and helmets, decide to sit on the ground with them. The protests in Brazil began on June 13 when a small group of mostly students demonstrated against an increase in the fare of public transportation. Since then, the protests have ballooned to include other grievances, including corruption and the high cost of hosting the World Cup in 2014." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMilitary Police Officers Sit, Join Protesters In Brazil

Video: Huge Protests In Brazil Sweep The Country

"Though the protests initially began following the announcement of bus fare increases, they have evolved to include a wide range of groups that have grown dissatisfied over everything from government corruption and income inequality, as well as to outrage over the police's harsh response to protesters last week. In a sign that public dissatisfaction was still simmering, soccer fans booed president Dilma Rousseff on Monday during the opening of a two-week tournament at a stadium in the capital Brasilia. The heckling only intensified when the president of the global soccer body, FIFA, reprimanded the crowed for failing to show the president 'respect.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVideo: Huge Protests In Brazil Sweep The Country

Can Swiss Human Rights Withstand IRS Extraterritorial Tax Enforcement?

"Switzerland is being persecuted for being a productive, peaceful nation that has a strong human rights policy with regards to privacy. More specifically, politicians from high-tax nations resent the fact that investors flock to Switzerland to benefit from good policies, and they are pressuring the Swiss government to weaken that nation’s human rights laws so that governments with bad fiscal systems have an easier time of tracking and taxing flight capital. But I’m not opening champagne just yet. The Swiss have resisted American demands before, and on more than one occasion, only to eventually back down." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCan Swiss Human Rights Withstand IRS Extraterritorial Tax Enforcement?

Young Turks seek greater liberty, not revolution

"Ask the younger protesters who have taken to Turkey’s streets over the past two weeks what they are fighting for, and the response is simple: 'More freedom'. At the forefront are a generation who, unlike their parents, have grown up in an increasingly outward-looking and fast-growing economy, a new middle class with satellite TV, smartphones and social media connections with friends around the world. Ironically it is Erdogan who has driven that change, overseeing a near-tripling in nominal wealth over his past decade in power. But for the young protesters in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities around Turkey, he has created a generation whose aspirations he no longer understands." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYoung Turks seek greater liberty, not revolution

Iran’s Ahmadinejad meets successor after being ousted in election

"Iran’s outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met his successor Hassan Rowhani on Tuesday for the first time since the moderate conservative was elected, in talks centred on political and economic issues. Rowhani, a 64-year-old cleric who is scheduled to take office on August 3, won an outright victory in Friday’s presidential election, ending Ahmadinejad’s eight years of hardline leadership. Reinforced by UN Security Council sanctions, punitive measures have cost Iran’s economy billions in vital oil revenues and foreign investment, leaving the country struggling with raging inflation, high unemployment and a depreciated currency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIran’s Ahmadinejad meets successor after being ousted in election

Attempted Land Grab Ends With Voters Booting Entire City Council

"Government officials like to use eminent domain for the convenience of their preferred policies and/or the enrichment of themselves and their buddies. Usually, they get away with it, because the folks on the receiving end are too few and powerless to hold their tormentors to account. In Hackensack, New Jersey, however, the officials who targeted Michael Monaghan's property for seizure as part of an 'area in need of redevelopment,' even while denying him the right to develop it himself, pushed too many people around, too often. Last month, voters booted out the entire city council." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAttempted Land Grab Ends With Voters Booting Entire City Council

3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so

"When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence veterans breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way. For years, the three whistle-blowers had told anyone who would listen that the NSA collects huge swaths of communications data from U.S. citizens. They had spent decades in the top ranks of the agency, designing and managing the very data-collection systems they say have been turned against Americans." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so

Welcome to the ‘Glock Block’: Oregonians are no longer calling the police, arm themselves instead

"Frustrated by an increase in petty crime, residents of an Oregon neighborhood have decided to arm themselves instead of calling the police. Residents of a Jennings Lodge neighborhood in Clackamas county, Ore., have put up fliers advertising their new policy, calling themselves the 'Glock Block', according to KOIN News. 'This is a Glock Block,' the fliers read. 'We don't call 911. Along with some of her neighbors, Coy Toloman has put up the fliers and gotten a concealed carry permit with the hopes of deterring criminals. While the increase in neighborhood crime is mostly petty, with incidents of vandalism and stolen law ornaments, Toloman has had enough." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWelcome to the ‘Glock Block’: Oregonians are no longer calling the police, arm themselves instead