Monthly Archives: August 2015

For Norway, Oil at $50 Is Worse Than the Global Financial Crisis

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“When the financial crisis brought the global economy to its knees, Norway was largely unscathed. But oil under $50? That’s another story.  Unemployment peaked at about 3.7 percent in 2010 in the post-crisis aftermath. Falling oil prices already pushed the jobless rate to 4.3 percent in May, the highest in at least 11 years, and that was before a renewed drop in Brent crude.  If the government has to withdraw money from its $875 billion sovereign wealth fund, it will be a historical step. It’s either that, or heavily rein in fiscal spending at a time when the country needs it most.  Taking money from the fund wasn’t planned for at least a few decades and no finance minister wants that to be their legacy.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-10/for-norway-oil-at-50-is-worse-than-the-global-financial-crisis

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‘Production Versus Plunder’ Part 19: Life in the New Empire

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“Plato goes on: ‘Not in the present generation… there is no way of accomplishing this; but their sons may be made to believe in the tale, and their sons’ sons, and posterity after them.’ This is precisely what was done in medieval Europe. The people were made to believe something that did not come naturally to them – and it enslaved their minds for a thousand years. And, to an extent, this idea remains. This formulation of Plato and his empire has strongly contributed to the gut feeling of many mixed-race people that they are somehow inferior. The amount of human suffering caused by this giant lie has been astronomical.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/36462/Paul-Rosenberg-Production-Versus-Plunder-Part-19-Life-in-the-New-Empire/

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Italy’s army bringing down the cost of medical marijuana

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“In a heavily-guarded lab in Florence, many hundreds of a new type of marijuana plant are being grown. It’s part of the Italian army’s latest mission, to grow medical grade cannabis for the nation.  General Giocondo Santoni directs the business unit at the military pharmaceutical facility in Florence.  ‘We expect to make this drug available by the end of this year in a quantity of about 100 kilos (220 lbs), which is double the amount that we are currently importing from the Netherlands.’  Italy legalised the use of medical marijuana in 2007, meaning patients suffering from cancer, sclerosis and chronic pain have relied on the plant for relief.  For 25ml of cannabis oil, it can cost more than 400 euros per month.”

http://www.euronews.com/2015/07/29/italy-s-army-bringing-down-the-cost-of-getting-high-on-medical-marijuana/

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Former President Jimmy Carter Calls U.S. an Oligarchy

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“Almost 35 years later, Carter is now the longest surviving ex-president in U.S. history. That’s a long time to observe and reflect. He has little to lose by being honest, so his comments last week deserve some attention. Carter blasted both major parties and from state legislatures up to Congress. The U.S., he believes, is an oligarchy built on unlimited political bribery. Those are strong words. We see them on sites like The Daily Bell, but considerably less often from those inside the oligarchy.  We are approaching, and perhaps already are at, a point where oligarchy is seen as normal and natural. People don’t mind living under oligarchy as long as the ‘right’ people control it.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36455/Jimmy-Carter-Calls-US-an-Oligarchy/

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$147,000 in Speaking Fees from a Company He Gave Gov. Contracts

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“Among [former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley’s] most lucrative speeches was a $50,000 appearance at a conference in Baltimore sponsored by Center Maryland, an organization whose leaders include a former O’Malley communications director, the finance director of his presidential campaign and the director of a super PAC formed to support O’Malley’s presidential bid.  O’Malley also lists $147,812 for a series of speeches to Environmental Systems Research Institute, a company that makes mapping software that O’Malley heavily employed as governor as part of an initiative to use data and technology to guide policy decisions.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/martin-omalley-got-147000-in-speaking-fees-from-a-company-he-gave-lucrative-government-contracts

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They Live, We Sleep: A Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy

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“What most Americans perceive as life in America—privileged, progressive and free—is a far cry from reality, where economic inequality is growing, real agendas and real power are buried beneath layers of Orwellian doublespeak and corporate obfuscation, and ‘freedom,’ such that it is, is meted out in small, legalistic doses by militarized police armed to the teeth. Tune out the government’s attempts to distract, divert and befuddle us and tune into what’s really going on in this country, and you’ll run headlong into an unmistakable, unpalatable truth: the moneyed elite who rule us view us as expendable resources to be used, abused and discarded.”

http://rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/they_live_we_sleep_a_dictatorship_disguised_as_a_democracy

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Could Shapeshifting ‘Material Support’ Doctrine Take A Bite Out Of Apple?

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“Recently, Congress, the administration, and pundits have not been shy about threatening to use material support against social media companies like Twitter. Wittes and Bedell reason, it’s not a great leap to see how a judge would find Apple equally guilty.  Apple would violate the law, the two write, if it continued to provide its encrypted services to a customer after the FBI has served a warrant for the customers’ communications.  Wittes and Bedell argue that ‘the sale of an encrypted phone by a major company to the general public cannot plausibly constitute material support for terrorism.’  We’re not so sure.”

http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/news/shapeshifting-material-support-apple/

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This Group May Stop the NSA From Tapping the Internet’s Backbone

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“This current iteration of the case, filed against the NSA itself, was thrown out by a lower court twice. The most recent rejection came earlier this year, when a California judge ruled that, in order to prove the case, the EFF would have to rely on classified material that cannot be made public, and therefore couldn’t be used in the case.  The EFF, however, says that because the NSA has essentially admitted much of what the case alleges, there’s no need to dip into those classified records.  ‘The biggest change is that the government has admitted a lot of things that it was previously saying were secret, and it’s a direct result of the Snowden documents,’ Andrew Crocker, EFF staff attorney, said.”

https://news.vice.com/article/this-group-may-stop-the-nsa-from-tapping-the-internets-backbone

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NSA Tries to Blame Privacy Advocates for Telephone Records Retention

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“USA Freedom requires the NSA to stop collecting our telephone records.  An open question when the law passed was what should happen to the mountain of records the NSA has already collected. Will the records be destroyed? Will the NSA keep them? Will it be able to keep using them?  Earlier this week, the NSA announced that it was going to move the stored records out of active use in November, with a three month period when its employees check them for ‘data integrity’ reasons. It noted, however, that it would not be destroying the records until resolution of the various court cases where the government is under a court order to preserve evidence.”

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/07/government-tries-blame-privacy-advocates-keeping-telephone-records

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Cliven Bundy will be held accountable, Interior secretary says

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“Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy will be held accountable for the federal land grazing fees and penalties he owes, a top federal official said.  Bundy became a national figure in April 2014 when he and scores of supporters got into an armed standoff with federal law enforcement officers over his cattle’s years of alleged unpaid grazing on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, whose department includes the BLM, says Bundy will eventually have to answer for what he owes the federal government, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.  The BLM says he owes more than $1 million. But Bundy does not recognize the federal government’s authority to collect.”

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/246103-cliven-bundy-will-be-held-accountable-interior-secretary-says

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