We've written a few times about how columnists at various mainstream press outlets have been speaking out against SOPA and PIPA, showing that the story is catching on in the mainstream media. However, some of our critics have complained that since these are just writers for those publications, it's unfair to suggest that the publication itself has come out. Okay... if that's the way you want it. Let's try this one on for size: the New York Times ... (more)
Want to know when a bit of news has really hit the mainstream? It's when the Taiwanese company Next Media Animation does a computer generated animation of the story. These videos have become a media sensation. Guess what they just took on? Yup, the battle over SOPA, which they animate by showing Hollywood lobbyists seeking to attack the internet, and... (more)
It is said that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. In the case of the copyright industry, they have learned that they can get new monopoly benefits and rent-seeker’s benefits every time there is a new technology, if they just complain loudly enough to the legislators.
The past 100 years have seen a vast array of technical advances in broadcasting, multiplication and transmissions of culture, but equally much misguided legislators who sought to prese... (more)
US authorities have initiated the largest round of domain name seizures yet as part of their continued crackdown on counterfeit and piracy-related websites. With just a few days to go until “Cyber Monday” more than 100 domain names have been taken over by the feds to protect the commercial interests of US companies. The seizures are disputable, as the SOPA bill which aims to specifically legitimize such actions is still pending in Congress.
The day before the Thanksgiving holiday brought three extraordinary news items. One was the report on the Republican presidential campaign debate. One was the Russian President’s statement about his country’s response to Washington’s missile bases surrounding his country. And one was the failure of a German government bond auction.
With fiscal time bombs ticking in both Europe and the United States, the pertinent question for now seems to be which will explode first. For much of the past few months, it looked as if Europe was set to blow. But Angela Merkel’s refusal to support a Federal Reserve-style bailout of European sovereigns, as well as her recent statement the she had no Hank Paulson-style fiscal bazooka in her handbag, has lowered the heat. In contrast, the utter failure of the Congressional Super Committee i... (more)
While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself.
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s move to expand price controls this week sparked panic purchases by consumers, leading to shortages of everything from coffee to toilet paper.
People are buying more than they need to stock their homes and resell the products at a profit in the black market, Food Minister Carlos Osorio said yesterday on state television. The authorities are visiting stores to ensure the availability of regulated products, he said. ... (more)
The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing.
The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their ... (more)
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I have been quite vocal in my opposition to most of what is done by the U.S. military in the name of defending our freedoms and other nonsense. Because of this I have been accused over the years of not appreciating and not supporting the troops (I plead guilty) and indifference to and wishing harm to the troops (I plead not guilty).
However, on this latter point it needs to be said that it is only natural to expect that foreigners... (more)
A British company called Gamma International marketed hacking software to governments that exploited the vulnerability via a bogus update to iTunes, Apple's media player, which is installed on more than 250 million machines worldwide.
The hacking software, FinFisher, is used to spy on intelligence targets’ computers. It is known to be used by British agencies and earlier this year records were discovered in abandoned offices of that showed it had been offe... (more)
Wow, I don't know how I missed this! Apparently, the Venus Project and the Zeitgeist Movement have imploded due to Jacques Fresco's egomaniacal insanity.
[Video replaced, the original video was taken down.]
This is too rich. Peter makes the guy famous, then, of course, the idiot communist who doesn't believe in private proper... (more)
L: Doug, we've had a lot of requests from younger readers asking for advice on how they should tackle the world, starting out amidst a crisis. We've also had questions from older readers asking what you might do differently if you were 21 again -- or if you were suddenly unemployed and had to start from scratch. What do you think? Can you stroke your long, white beard and give us some practical guru wisdom for today's world?
CHICAGO -- As Jessica Shaver and I chat at a coffee shop in Chicago's north-side Andersonville neighborhood, a police car pulls into the parking lot across the street. Then another. Two cops get out, lean up against their cars, and appear to gaze across traffic into the store. At times, they seem to be looking directly at us. Shaver, who works as an eyebrow waxer at a nearby spa, appears nervous.
"See what I mean? They follow me," says Shaver, 30. During several phone conversation... (more)
Five-year-old Stockton, California resident Michael Davis has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a clinical term often used to pathologize the predictable behavior of young boys. Like many other boys his age, Michael doesn't take well to prolonged "educational" detention, and sometimes proved to be a disruptive influence in hi... (more)
It was Black Friday and their was a 32" TV advertised in the Walmart paper. My mom excited to go shopping pulled my sister and I into going shopping with her. We thought, "This is going to be a nightmare." However, we could have never predicted how our night would unfold.
We were shopping at Walmart in Kinston, NC. People began grabbing for things ahead ... (more)
CNN PRODUCER NOTE Dchadd shot this dramatic video of a bloody arrest during Black Friday shopping at a Walmart in Buckeye, Arizona. 'The man was not resisting,' he says. 'All of a sudden the cop hooked the leg of the man and grabbed the man by the shirt and slammed him face first into the ground. ... The worst part was seeing his grandson in tears when he s... (more)
In October, a video on YouTube received worldwide attention that impressed and inspired its viewers. The video shows United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY berating the police for its mistreatment of protestors at Occupy Wall Street in New York City. Mr. Thomas claims to have spent fourteen months in occupied Iraq. Though Mr. Thomas’ analysis and remarks regarding the police’s behavior... (more)
Gold traders are more bullish after investors accumulated the biggest-ever hoard of the metal, with Europe’s deepening debt crisis driving them to protect their wealth with this year’s second-best performing commodity.
Eighteen of 26 surveyed by Bloomberg expect bullion to rise next week. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold reached a record 2,350.8 metric tons on Nov. 23, now valued at $127.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Hedge funds... (more)
Progressives today say people should come before profits. Now in a privilege-ridden corporate state, that's a worthy goal, though Progressives have no clue how to achieve it. How nice it would be if they were equally committed to putting people before bureaucracy. Here they fall down rather badly because their signature ideas would subordinate regular people to the dictates of the power structure.
Take MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Maddow is intelligent, serious, and well-meaning -- whic... (more)
A 61 year old man from Halifax County, Virginia, was tasered by cops and died Tuesday after they were called to the scene by an onlooker who saw the man fall off his bike in a parking lot and feared he was drunk.
When the police arrived, Roger Anthony was riding away on the bike. Anthony did not respond to the officers’ requests for him to stop so Officer John Turner used a stun gun on him, causing Anthony to once again fall off his bike, reports ... (more)
