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  • How the CIA made Google

    01/24/2015 7:58:44 AM PST · by Enlightened1 · 71 replies
    Medium ^ | Nafeez Ahmed
    The United States intelligence community funded, nurtured and incubated Google as part of a drive to dominate the world through control of information. Seed-funded by the NSA and CIA,Google was merely the first among a plethora of private sector start-ups co-opted by US intelligence to retain ‘information superiority.’ The origins of this ingenious strategy trace back to a secret Pentagon-sponsored group, that for the last two decades has functioned as a bridge between the US government and elites across the business, industry, finance, corporate, and media sectors. The group has allowed some of the most powerful special interests in corporate...
  • Federal Committee: We Need Fat Interventions At Worksites

    11/08/2014 8:54:53 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 95 replies
    The Washington Free Beacon ^ | November 7, 2014 | Elizabeth Harrington
    The federal committee charged with creating nutrition guidelines for Americans is calling for fat interventions at workplaces.During a presentation at the sixth meeting of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) on Friday, the committee said government needs to take “bold action” to fight obesity.The solutions included “comprehensive” obesity interventions in “health care, the community, public health facilities, and work sites.”“The public should monitor body weight and engage with providers in evidence-based approaches aimed at achieving and maintaining healthy body weight,” the panel said in a presentation on “Food and Nutrient Intakes, and Health.”The committee, which is responsible for creating...
  • Facebook data mining for political views

    10/31/2014 11:02:58 AM PDT · by leapfrog0202 · 42 replies
    Politico ^ | 10/30/2014 | Hadas Gold
    Facebook is mining its data of users' posts to find out how users feel about certain candidates or issues and sharing that data with ABC News and BuzzFeed for use in their 2016 reporting, the social-networking site will announce on Friday. The data will be gathered from the posts of Facebook users in the United States 18 and older, classifying sentiments about a politician or issue as positive, negative or neutral. The data can also be broken down into sentiments by gender and location, making it possible to see how Facebook users in the key primary states of Iowa or...
  • Ex-CBS reporter: Government agency bugged my computer

    10/27/2014 6:39:08 AM PDT · by detective · 125 replies
    NY Post ^ | October 27, 2014 | Kyle Smith and Bruce Golding
    A former CBS News reporter who quit the network over claims it kills stories that put President Obama in a bad light says she was spied on by a “government-related entity” that planted classified documents on her computer. In her new memoir, Sharyl Attkisson says a source who arranged to have her laptop checked for spyware in 2013 was “shocked” and “flabbergasted” at what the analysis revealed.
  • Elon Musk: 'We are summoning the demon' with artificial intelligence

    10/27/2014 7:40:59 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 34 replies
    cnet.com ^ | October 26, 2014 10:09 AM PDT | Eric Mack
    "You know all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he's like... yeah, he's sure he can control the demon, [but] it doesn't work out." This has become a recurring theme in Musk's public comments, and each time he warns of the AI bogeyman it seems even more dire. In June, Musk raised the specter of the "Terminator" franchise, saying that he invests in companies working on artificial intelligence just to be able to keep an eye on the technology. In August, he reiterated his concerns in a tweet, writing that AI is...
  • Facebook Promises a Deeper Review of Its User Research

    10/02/2014 12:25:19 PM PDT · by Citizen Zed · 5 replies
    NY Times ^ | 10-2-2014 | VINDU GOEL
    Facebook said Thursday that future research on its 1.3 billion users would be subjected to greater internal scrutiny from top managers, especially if they focused on “deeply personal topics” or specific groups of people. But no outside body will review Facebook’s research projects, and the company declined to disclose what guidelines it would use to decide whether research was appropriate. Nor did it indicate whether it will get consent from users for projects like its emotion manipulation study, which set off a global furor when it was disclosed this summer. In essence, Facebook’s message is the same as it has...
  • Mistaken identity in background checks can cost applicants job offers (video)

    08/23/2014 4:37:50 PM PDT · by Citizen Zed · 21 replies
    pbs newshour ^ | 8-23-2014 | MEGAN THOMPSON
    MEGAN THOMPSON: Great news for the divorced 58-year-old father and professional driver who needed the extra money to help pay child support. Jones filled out the paperwork, submitted a drug test and waited to hear when he could start. Instead, he got a different kind of call. KEVIN JONES: And Human Resources said, “There’s a problem with your background check.” And I said, “What problem?” “Yeah, there’s some criminal stuff going on. You need to talk to them.” MEGAN THOMPSON: It turned out the background check – conducted by a company now called Sterling BackCheck – showed convictions for drunk...
  • Sen. Cruz co-sponsors bill to ban bulk record collection

    07/29/2014 2:12:30 PM PDT · by Plummz · 12 replies
    Office of Sen. Ted Cruz ^ | July 29, 2014 | Office of Sen. Ted Cruz
    Bi-partisan legislation protects privacy rights while targeting terrorists July 29, 2014 | (202) 228-7561 WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following statement regarding the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 filed today. Senator Cruz is an original co-sponsor of this bill: “Republicans and Democrats are showing America that the government can respect the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens, while at the same time, giving law enforcement the tools needed to target terrorists,” said Sen. Cruz. “The USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 ends the government’s bulk record collection program and implements other necessary surveillance reforms. Importantly, it...
  • NASA-funded study: The way to save Western civilization from collapse is communism

    03/19/2014 10:54:20 AM PDT · by mandaladon · 84 replies
    The Daily Caller ^ | 19 Mar 2014 | Michael Bastasch
    If the United States wants to avoid falling like the Roman Empire, it must avoid “overconsumption” and distribute resources equally, according to a study funded by NASA. “The fall of the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian Empires, are all testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations can be both fragile and impermanent,” reads the NASA-funded report published in the Ecological Economics journal. “Two important features seem to appear across societies that have collapsed,” the study adds. “The stretching of resources...
  • Capital One says it can show up at cardholders' homes, workplaces

    02/17/2014 10:22:16 PM PST · by Dallas59 · 110 replies
    LA Times ^ | 2/17/2014 | LA Times
    Ding-dong, Cap One calling. Credit card issuer Capital One isn't shy about getting into customers' faces. The company recently sent a contract update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases. The update specifies that "we may contact you in any manner we choose" and that such contacts can include calls, emails, texts, faxes or a "personal visit." As if that weren't creepy enough, Cap One says these visits can be "at your home and at your place of employment." The police need a court order to pull off something like that. But Cap One...
  • Time to Stock Up on Incandescent Bulbs Before They Go Out Permanently

    12/26/2013 4:33:05 AM PST · by IbJensen · 65 replies
    Heritage Foundation ^ | December 26, 2013 | Nicholas Loris
    If your New Year’s resolution is to change your light bulbs, don’t worry—the federal government’s here to help. Beginning January 1, 2014, the federal government will ban the use of 60-watt and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs. The light bulb has become a symbol in the fight for consumer freedom and against unnecessary governmental interference into the lives of the American people. 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law an energy bill that placed stringent efficiency requirements on ordinary incandescent bulbs in an attempt to have them completely eliminated by 2014. The law phased out 100-watt and...
  • City Of Austin Considering Fast Food Ban (TX)

    11/07/2013 5:49:39 AM PST · by bgill · 65 replies
    KEYETV ^ | Nov. 6, 2013 | staff
    KEYE TV has learned city council is considering a resolution that -- if passed -- would "restrict fast-food food restaurants from locating near areas that children frequent." That includes schools, municipal parks, child care centers and libraries... Convenience stores are also being targeted. The plan would offer food marts incentives to carry healthy food options.
  • Obama denies ‘you can keep it’ videotaped promises

    11/05/2013 5:14:54 AM PST · by Haiku Guy · 193 replies
    The Daily Caller ^ | 11/5/13 | Neil Munro
    President Barack Obama told his enthusiastic supporters Monday night that he never promised what video recordings show him promising at least 29 times. The videos show Obama promising 300 million Americans that “if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period.” (snip)
  • Democrats push to redeploy Obama’s voter database

    06/12/2013 11:39:48 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 16 replies
    Washington Post ^ | 11/20/2012 | Craig Timberg and Amy Gardner
    <p>If you voted this election season, President Obama almost certainly has a file on you. His vast campaign database includes information on voters’ magazine subscriptions, car registrations, housing values and hunting licenses, along with scores estimating how likely they were to cast ballots for his reelection.</p>
  • ATF seeks 'massive' online database to log personal information, connections

    04/06/2013 7:51:29 AM PDT · by LibWhacker · 49 replies
    rt.com ^ | 4/6/13
    A recent notice from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reveals that the agency intends to acquire an online database capable of bringing up many of an individual’s personal characteristics and connections with just a few keystrokes. On March 28 the federal law enforcement organization, which is a branch of the US Department of Justice, filed a solicitation notice for a “massive online data repository system” for its Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information. The solicitation is hosted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, where vendors and developers can offer their services to the government in a competitive reverse...
  • Sebelius: ObamaCare is the law of the land, so you might as well help us implement it

    02/05/2013 11:01:07 AM PST · by SeekAndFind · 30 replies
    Hotair ^ | 02/05/2013 | Erika Johnsen
    Or, in other words: Just give in already to the power of the all-knowing and all-powerful bureaucracy. Trust us.Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that ObamaCare’s Medicaid mandate (requiring that states expand their programs and provide specified health care to all citizens whose income falls below a certain threshold, or else face losing all prior federal funding) was an unconstitutional “gun to the head” for states’ administrations and budgets, and confirmed their right to opt out without penalty — but that doesn’t mean the Obama administration isn’t applying every type of political pressure and fiscal inducement they can to coerce...
  • New La. law: Sex offenders must list status on Facebook, other social media

    06/21/2012 12:33:50 PM PDT · by Islander7 · 12 replies
    CNN Tech ^ | June 21, 2012 | Michael Martinez
    (CNN) -- A new Louisiana law requires sex offenders and child predators to state their criminal status on their Facebook or other social networking page, with the law's author saying the bill is the first of its kind in the nation. State Rep. Jeff Thompson, a Republican from Bossier City, Louisiana, says his new law, effective August 1, will stand up to constitutional challenge because it expands sex offender registration requirements, common in many states, to include a disclosure on the convicted criminal's social networking sites as well. Thompson, an attorney and a father of a 13-year-old daughter and 9-year-old...
  • Beware the spy in the sky.. snoopers, Google and Apple ..film you sunbathing in your back garden

    06/10/2012 8:33:18 PM PDT · by george76 · 63 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 10 June 2012 | Vanessa Allen
    Software giants will use military-grade cameras to take powerful satellite images Spy planes able to photograph sunbathers in their back gardens are being deployed by Google and Apple. The U.S. technology giants are racing to produce aerial maps so detailed they can show up objects just four inches wide. But campaigners say the technology is a sinister development that brings the surveillance society a step closer. Google admits it has already sent planes over cities while Apple has acquired a firm using spy-in-the-sky technology that has been tested on at least 20 locations, including London. Apple’s military-grade cameras are understood...
  • Republican (Michael Burgess R-Texas) to revive lightbulb war

    05/07/2012 4:09:16 PM PDT · by Libloather · 46 replies
    The Hill ^ | 5/07/12 | Andrew Restuccia
    Republican to revive lightbulb warBy Andrew Restuccia - 05/07/12 04:43 PM ET A House Republican is planning in the coming weeks to revive the GOP offensive against federal lightbulb efficiency standards. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) will offer an amendment to Energy Department spending legislation that would block funding for implementation of the standards, the lawmaker's office told The Hill. The standards have come under fire from conservatives in recent years. Republicans won the inclusion of a similar provision in an omnibus spending compromise that House and Senate lawmakers agreed to in December. The provision blocked funding for implementation of the...
  • "Civility?" Attack Watch Colors "Attackers" Faces Blood-Red

    09/16/2011 2:51:19 PM PDT · by rightistight · 40 replies
    Pundit Press ^ | 9/16/11 | Aurelius
    Attack Watch, a terrible George Orwellian idea to begin with, has gone from bad to horrendous. Just a few months ago, Democrats wailed that Republicans were completely responsible for a “climate of fear” that gets people killed. Of course, it wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now. Regardless, Democrats called for “civility.” Since then, there have been literally thousands of violent things that liberals have spewed, from a Facebook group that calls for the murder of Sarah Palin to union heads calling for a “war.” Now there is Attack Watch, which continues the Left’s move towards violence and chaos....