Monthly Archives: May 2013
Arizona sheriff’s office found to be profiling
The office of an Arizona lawman who styles himself America’s toughest sheriff improperly targeted Hispanics in routine patrols for undocumented immigrants, a federal judge has found. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22664299 Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was sued by a group of Hispanic drivers who said his deputies relied on race when choosing whom to stop. “Singling people out […]
IMF head accused of financial misdealing
Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, will soon learn if she must face a full criminal investigation over her role in a contentious financial deal that dates back to her time as French finance minister. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/business/global/lagarde-to-appear-in-french-court.html Ms. Lagarde, Nicolas Sarkozy’s finance minister from 2007 to 2011, allowed a court case to go […]
Banksters writing US financial laws
Bank lobbyists are not leaving it to lawmakers to draft legislation that softens financial regulations. Instead, the lobbyists are helping to write it themselves. One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month — over the objections of the Treasury Department — was essentially Citigroup’s. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/banks-lobbyists-help-in-drafting-financial-bills/?hp The bill would exempt broad swathes […]
MI5 had hacking assailants under surveillance
British security officials confirmed Thursday that the suspects were known to MI5, the domestic security agency, in the years before the attack, which stunned many people with its sheer brutality. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/europe/london-attack.html?pagewanted=1&src=twr What British security officials knew about the two men held after the London attack remained unclear. But unidentified officials who spoke with British reporters […]
US admits drone killing of americans
The administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged for the first time that it had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/us/us-acknowledges-killing-4-americans-in-drone-strikes.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 The American involvement in Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration until now had refused to confirm it. Likewise, Mr. Holder confirmed the government’s […]
Google to use drones to generate power
Makani Power will become part of Google X – the secretive research and development arm of the search giant. The deal comes as Makani carries out the first fully autonomous flights of robot kites bearing its power-generating propellers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22636565 The firm has just successfully completed tests on a 30 kW prototype to see if its […]
Associate of Boston bombing suspect killed by FBI
A man in Orlando, Fla., who was being interviewed by at least one F.B.I. agent and other investigators, implicated himself and Mr. Tsarnaev in those murders, and then was fatally shot after he apparently tried to assault the agent. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/us/officer-involved-in-shooting-of-man-tied-to-tsarnaev.html?ref=world The man, Ibragim Todashev, had been speaking for two hours in his apartment to officials […]
Portland votes no again on water fluoridation
Despite the recommendation of “public health experts”, voters in Portland, Ore., defeated a measure on Tuesday to add fluoride to the water supply by a 60-to-40 percent margin. The result marks the fourth time since 1956 that Portland has rejected fluoridation efforts, and means the city will continue to be the largest metropolitan area in […]
Judge criticizes NY Stop and Frisk
“A lot of people are being frisked or searched on suspicion of having a gun and nobody has a gun,” Judge Scheindlin, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said on Monday during closing arguments in the trial. “So the point is: the suspicion turns out to be wrong in most of the cases.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/nyregion/judge-skeptical-of-new-york-police-stops-effectiveness.html?hp Observing […]
US special forces assett sought for torture killing
Family members on Tuesday found the body of a man missing since last November near the American Special Forces base in Afghanistan which he was last seen being taken. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/torture-victims-body-is-found-near-us-base-afghans-say.html?ref=world After his disappearance, the man, Sayid Mohammad, was seen in a video undergoing torture at the hands of an Afghan-American named Zakaria Kandahari, who was […]
Anonymous avails Guantanamo hunger strike
The American military has turned off its wi-fi service inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay following threats by the hacker collective Anonymous. Anonymous had threatened to “disrupt activities” at the base, in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22608083 It launched “Operation Guantanamo” on Saturday, 18 May. The Anonymous three-day campaign began on the […]
Prosecutor leak exposed Fast and Furious whistleblower
The Justice Department’s independent inspector general on Monday criticized a former top federal prosecutor in Arizona, Dennis K. Burke, for leaking a document in June 2011 about a federal agent who was raising alarms about the gun trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/politics/dennis-k-burke-criticized-for-fast-and-furious-leak.html?ref=us Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms […]
FBI agents involved in Boston bombing investigation die
During a training mission Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw began their descent on Friday onto a ship roughly a dozen miles off the coast of Virginia, the helicopter suddenly tilted because of a strong gust of wind. The two men, holding onto the ropes and loaded down with gear, lost their grips and […]
Guatamalan elite overturn genocide conviction
The decision by Guatemala’s Constitutional Court was a dramatic legal victory for General Ríos Montt, 86, and a blow to human rights advocates who had called his conviction a sign that Guatemala’s courts would no longer allow impunity for the country’s powerful. General Ríos Montt was found to be responsible as commander in chief for […]
Robots to care for the elderly
The US will need 70 percent more home aide jobs by 2020, long before that bubble of retirees. And while filling those jobs is proving to be difficult because the salaries are low, in many states, $20,820 annually. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed Cody, a robotic nurse the university says is […]
Activist illegally detained by the feds
Former marine, radio host and political activist Adam Kokesh was arrested at a marijuana legalization assembly in Philadelphia. Kokesh was reportedly hauled away in a white Chevy Suburban, although he “hadn’t even smoked yet,” while “other protesters were actually smoking and released after arrest…” The talk radio host recently garnered national attention when he announced […]
Sibel Edmonds, Gladio B, and the birth of Al Qaeda
“You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game” explained Gladio operative Vincenzo Vinciguerra during his trial in 1984. “The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people… to turn to the State to ask for greater security.” http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/whistleblower-al-qaeda-chief-u-s-asset/ While the reality […]
Google to pay little taxes to UK
Google paid only £6 million in corporate taxes in Britain in 2011, despite generating more than £3 billion in revenue there. Google, which reduces its tax bill in Britain and other European countries by routing sales via Ireland, where corporate taxes are lower, insists that the practice is perfectly legal. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/eric-schmidt-of-google-to-meet-with-british-prime-minister/?ref=technology http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/google-buys-a-quantum-computer/?ref=technology
A world of corruption
A new survey of corporate officials and employees in 36 countries — in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as India — indicates that there is plenty of corruption. Over all, 20 percent of the respondents said they knew of incidents at their own companies within the previous year that could be construed […]
Face recognition fully implemented
The odds are you are not just a face in the crowd any longer. Even if your picture isn’t plastered all over social networking and photo-sharing sites, facial recognition technology in public places is making it harder if not impossible to remain anonymous. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57584887/big-brother-is-big-business/ CBS reports on the new ways this technology is being used […]
Dirty Babylon 