Tag Archives: Winning Hearts & Minds

European Parliament votes to suspend US SWIFT data exchange

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“The European Parliament has voted to suspend its SWIFT data exchange agreement with the US.  They’ve called for US access to the SWIFT database to be halted following concerns that the US is spying on the EU, and not simply trying to combat terrorism.  EU lawmakers suspect that the US has abused an agreement giving it limited access to SWIFT.  As such, they voted to freeze Washington’s capacity to track international payments through the site.  The worry comes after leaked American documents indicating the US was covertly tapping into SWIFT were aired on Brazilian television. The US denies any wrongdoing.”

http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/23/european-parliament-votes-to-suspend-its-swift-data-exchange-agreement-with-the/

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Czech artist gives president 33-foot-high one-finger salute

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“A Prague artist has given Czech President Milos Zeman the finger — a huge purple one floating on the river — to protest against his soft spot for old-school Communists just days before a snap election.  ‘It’s a middle-fingered salute at the fucking Communist shits in (Prague) Castle,’ outspoken artist David Cerny told local media on Tuesday.  Cerny is known for his hatred of the Communists, who ruled the former Czechoslovakia in 1948-1989 and are poised to regain some of their power in the two-day election ending on Saturday.  While the Social Democrats (CSSD) are likely to win, they will almost certainly have to rely on Communists — some with Stalinist sympathies — to govern.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/22/czech-artist-gives-president-massive-one-finger-salute/

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U.S. tax law has some expatriates waiving the American flag

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“Proponents of the law, including President Obama, praise it as an important tool to help ferret out wealthy tax cheats in America and abroad suspected of hiding millions or even billions of dollars in offshore accounts.  But it has also wreaked havoc on many upstanding Americans who have settled overseas for reasons of love, work or adventure, and who now say they are having trouble buying a home, paying for their kids’ education or planning for a comfortable retirement. Because of FATCA, some overseas banks are refusing to take on American customers, declaring themselves unwilling or financially unable to report information to the IRS, the tax agency of a foreign nation.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-us-citizens-abroad-20131014,0,7445958,full.story

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Eighth Amendment circumvented through plea bargaining

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“Pius Kampfen, a retired Swiss banker living in California, became a US citizen in 2006, has agreed to pay a penalty of 1.5 million on a high account balance of $2,930,785.  Tax owing to the US was minimal ($4,945 according to the government’s reckoning).  The penalty is thus 300x the damage to the government in uncollected taxes.  Jack Townsend comments,  ‘With the indicated tax loss, and the reference to the tax loss table for setting the base offense level, the sentence seems to be not out of line with other sentences.  But, I wonder why the Government would have prosecuted the case with such a small tax loss.  Certainly, probably his role as a Swiss banker himself probably was in the mix.'”

http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/10/09/eighth-amendments-no-excessive-fines-clause-circumvented-through-plea-bargaining/

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‘We Are Not A Myth’

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“Innocent Families Negatively Impacted by FATCA. Treasury Dept. Says We Are A ‘Myth’.”

http://we-are-not-a-myth.tumblr.com/

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NSA monitored millions of French phone calls, Mexican President’s email

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“France and Mexico have angrily demanded prompt explanations from the United States following ‘shocking’ new spying allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden. The reports published in French daily Le Monde and German weekly Der Spiegel reveal that the US National Security Agency secretly monitored tens of millions of phone calls in France and hacked into former Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s email account.  They come on top of revelations also leaked by Snowden and published in June that the US had a vast, secret programme called PRISM to monitor Internet users.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/21/revealed-nsa-secretly-monitored-tens-of-millions-of-phone-calls-in-france-and-hacked-into-former-mexican-president-felipe-calderons-email-account/

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Australian Police Hide Speed Cameras For ‘Safety’

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“Last week, police in Victoria, Australia revised speed camera policies to restore use of hidden speed trap cameras in the name of officer safety. Under previous rules, speed cameras were meant to be clearly visible so that motorists would slow down, achieving the stated goal of the automated enforcement program.  The new policy allows the mobile road speed camera operator (MRSCO) to hide behind signs or trees in the name of hiding from angry motorists for safety.  Another change in the rules overturned a ban on placing a speed camera within 300 yards of the bottom of a hill.  Fixed and mobile speed cameras in Victoria issued 1,106,773 tickets in the financial year ending June 2013.”

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/42/4238.asp

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The NSA Revelations Are Destroying IBM Hardware Sales In China

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“Teradata, which sells analytics tools for Big Data, warned that quarterly revenues plunged 21% in Asia and 19% in the Middle East and Africa. Wednesday evening, it was IBM’s turn to confess that its hardware sales in China had simply collapsed.  At the hardware unit, Systems and Technology, revenue plunged 17%. Within that, sales of UNIX and Linux Power System servers plummeted a dizzying 38%. Revenues in IBM’s ‘growth markets’ dropped 9%. They include the BRIC countries where revenues sagged 15%. In China, which accounts for 5% of IBM’s total revenues, sales dropped 22%, with hardware sales, nearly half of IBM’s business there, falling off a cliff: down 40%.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-revelations-kill-ibm-hardware-sales-in-china-2013-10

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Fleecing the Taxpayer in the Age of Petty Tyrannies

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“As I point out in my book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, the overt signs of the despotism exercised by the increasingly authoritarian regime that passes itself off as the United States government are all around us.  Yet as egregious as these incursions on our rights may be, it’s the endless, petty tyrannies inflicted on an overtaxed, overregulated, and underrepresented populace that occasionally nudge a weary public out of their numb indifference and into a state of outrage:  requiring permission to grow exotic orchids, host elaborate dinner parties, gather friends in one’s home for Bible studies, give coffee to the homeless, or keep chickens as pets.”

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/red_light_cameras_drones_surveillance_and_other_government_scams_to_fl

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Homeless man who created app arrested for sleeping on bench

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“A homeless man who has been studying computer programming and who designed a pollution-fighting app was arrested on Monday morning for sleeping on a park bench. According to Think Progress, the man known as ‘Journeyman’ Leo was arrested by New York City Police for sleeping in a park near Chelsea Piers and charged with trespassing. Leo came to the world’s attention in August, when 23-year-old programmer Patrick McConlogue announced that he offered the man $100 or a chance to learn coding and Leo chose coding.  Leo now faces fines of up to $250 for sleeping on a bench he doesn’t normally sleep on.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/16/homeless-man-who-created-app-arrested-for-sleeping-on-bench/

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