Tag Archives: Crisis Begets Opportunity

The core Internet institutions abandon the US Government

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“In Montevideo, Uruguay this week, the Directors of all the major Internet organizations – ICANN, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Internet Society, all five of the regional Internet address registries – turned their back on the US government. With striking unanimity, the organizations that actually develop and administer Internet standards and resources initiated a break with 3 decades of U.S. dominance of Internet governance.  It is the latest, and one of the most significant manifestations of the fallout from the Snowden revelations about NSA spying on the global Internet.”

http://www.internetgovernance.org/2013/10/11/the-core-internet-institutions-abandon-the-us-government/

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Ron Paul: The shutdown is not a real problem

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“‘I think the real worry should be the breakdown of the entire system. As far as default goes, we’re always going to pay the interest. That’s just a fake argument. I’m concerned about the continuation of the default by paying off our bills with money that has less value. That’s where the real problem is, and they’re not even talking about it.’  Paul brushed off the implications for thousands of furloughed federal workers, calling the time a ‘paid vacation.’  ‘I don’t know how people can believe this stuff as being serious,’ he said. ‘The government isn’t shut down and the few people who have been let go, half of them have been put back on. And they’re all guaranteed their wages.'”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101103087

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Britain gets its own FBI with new National Crime Agency

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“The UK government is taking a tougher approach to organized crime this week by unveiling an FBI-like National Crime Agency (NCA). At first glance it might look similar to the National Security Agency (NSA) naming used in the US, but Britain’s new crime agency will focus on organized crime, cybercrime, and even border policing rather than monitoring and surveillance. The NCA naming effectively replaces the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and it will be backed by local police forces with a staff of 4,500 and a budget of £463 million.  NCA officers will hold the power of a constable, immigration officer, and customs officer to tackle a host of crimes.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/8/4815512/uk-national-crime-agency-launch

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Shutdown: A Good Start?

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“The US armed forces are still occupying Afghanistan and staging abductions in Libya and Somalia.  The FBI and IRS are still kidnapping alleged entrepreneurs and stealing their stuff.  The Capitol Police are still gunning down unarmed mothers who make wrong turns in Washington, DC.  I beg to differ with my comrades, though.  Yes, the ‘shutdown’ is weak tea — only 17% of the federal government, much of it in the ‘social safety net’ areas that are likely to produce exactly the ‘please, please, please end the shutdown’ backlash the politicians want, and much of it already crumbling over creative interpretations of the law.  Still, it’s a good start.”

http://c4ss.org/content/21760

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During the shutdown, some scientists can’t talk about science

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“I’m a guest of honor this weekend at the Dallas’s Fencon this weekend, and I’ve just learned that some of the other speakers won’t be able to talk, thanks to the government shutdown. They’re government space scientists, and the 143-year-old Antideficiency Act makes it a crime (punishable by fines and imprisonment) for government employees to volunteer to do their own jobs (which, in their cases, includes talking about science to the public). The law dates back to the Lincoln administration, and was aimed at stopping fraudsters who did ‘government’ business, then presented a bill for services that hadn’t been contracted but had nevertheless been performed.”

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/04/during-the-shutdown-some-scie.html

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David Stockman: Worst Law Passed in Four Decades Must Be Stopped

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“‘It is a massive entitlement to end all entitlements. It is going to cause a fiscal hemorrhage that is not even yet anticipated. It will tie up one-sixth of GDP in the most monstrous, massive, bureaucratic snarl that you can’t imagine. So therefore this needs to be stopped before it becomes operational.’ Stockman expects more companies will follow the lead of GE (GE) and Walgreen (WAG) who have announced they will move employee or retiree healthcare benefits to private exchanges. Once millions of additional Americans are ‘dumped’ onto Obamacare exchanges, Stockman expects the cost to the government of subsidizing (with tax credits) these Americans’ insurance to swell.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/obamacare-worst-law-passed-four-decades-must-stopped-121701392.html

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Americans Suffering Sticker Shock: Is Obamacare Really Affordable?

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“It’s Day 8 of the Federal Government shutdown and many citizens who are able to sign up for healthcare under the Affordable Care Act are shocked how to see how expensive the plans are for working middle class families.  Workers who were dropped by their employer’s health insurance are being told to sign-up for Obamacare. However, they are discovering that it is certainly not that easy. Workers are finding a buggy and complicated system where their premiums are outrageous and that they are too wealthy for the tax deductions promised under ACA.”

http://benswann.com/exclusive-many-americans-suffering-sticker-shock-is-obamacare-really-affordable/

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Shutdown: National Park Service Closes Self-Sustaining Colonial Farm

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“‘For the first time in 40 years, the National Park Service (NPS) has finally succeeded in closing the Farm down to the public. In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm.’ The Claude Moore Colonial Farm, Eberly says, has thrived even as the federal government has treated it with ‘benign neglect’ for decades. That benign neglect would serve it better than the barricades now surrounding it.”

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/02/shutdown-national-park-service-closes-self-sustaining-colonial-farm-it-hasnt-supported-since-1980/

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Pentagon Spent $5 Billion on Weapons on the Eve of the Shutdown

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“The Pentagon pumped billions of dollars into contractors’ bank accounts on the eve of the U.S. government’s shutdown that saw 400,000 Defense Department employees furloughed.  All told, the Pentagon awarded 94 contracts yesterday evening on its annual end-of-the-fiscal-year spending spree, spending more than five billion dollars on everything from robot submarines to Finnish hand grenades and a radar base mounted on an offshore oil platform. To put things in perspective, the Pentagon gave out only 14 contracts on September 3, the first workday of the month.  Here are some of the more interesting purchases from Monday’s dollar-dump.”

http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/01/on_the_eve_of_the_government_shutdown_the_pentagon_spent_billions_on_weapons

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A Purse Snatching Led to the Legal Justification for NSA Domestic Spying

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“In 1979 the court upheld Smith’s conviction, and his 10-year prison term. Almost 35 years later, the court’s decision — in a case involving the recording of a single individual’s phone records — turns out to be the basis for a legal rationale justifying governmental spying on virtually all Americans. Smith v. Maryland, as the case is titled, set the binding precedent for what we now call metadata surveillance. That, in turn, has recently been revealed to be the keystone of the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of U.S. telephone data, in which the government chronicles every phone call originating or terminating in the United States, all in the name of the war on terror.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/10/nsa-smith-purse-snatching/

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