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Politicians lean on the financial industry to target activities they don’t like.The first credit card processor to announce plans to track purchases at gun shops is Discover Financial Services. The company hints that its competitors, specifically Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, are on the same schedule to implement a controversial gun-specific merchant category code announced last year. Given that the ideologically charged bank behind the new code has big plans for targeting gun purchases you can expect more fireworks to follow. "Discover Financial Services, a provider of credit cards, told Reuters it will allow its network to track purchases at...

A fairly new drug is finding its way into the U.S., and law enforcement personnel say it’s 20 times more potent than fentanyl. It’s called ISO, which is short for isotonitazene. The Drug Enforcement Administration says drug dealers are mixing it with other illegal drugs, making them more potent. “It is here. It’s present, and how potent this is — it’s not worth the one time they might use it. It’s not worth that extra high they might get because that could be their only time or their last time,” said Britney Morris, public information officer for the Pasco County...

THE ISO’S VOTE TO DISSOLVE AND WHAT COMES NEXT April 2, 2019 SocialistWorker.org reports on the results of an organization-wide online poll to determine what’s next in the wake of the ISO’s organizational crisis. MEMBERS AND recent ex-members of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) have decided to dissolve the organization and end publication of SocialistWorker.org over the coming weeks, but also to support several working groups and initiatives going forward, and to work toward continued collaboration in rebuilding independent revolutionary socialist organization. These decisions followed a week of online voting that ended March 29 on nearly two-dozen proposals put forward...

I am looking for a freeware program that will take .iso files and burn them to disk.

A publication of the international socialist movement has explicitly stated it is promoting abortion and gay “marriage” as part of a multi-pronged campaign to “replace global capitalism” with Marxism. The admission came on Monday in an article entitled "How Can We Change the World?" by Todd Chretien in the Socialist Worker, which is published by the International Socialist Organization. The ISO proudly “stands in the tradition of revolutionary socialists Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, and Leon Trotsky.” The article was putatively about the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington. However, it hailed the socially liberal views of...

A Communication from Operation:Countertroll to Ann Althouse and “Meade” Because of their extensive, lifelong, union freeloading (Althouse, the breadwinner of their pathetic, sexual-frustration driven “family” is an AAUP freeloader, a public sectorsecondary education freeloader, a University of Michigan freeloader, a University of Colorado freeloader and, most disgustingly to us, a University of Wisconsin Freeloader),their movement freeloading (they have greatly enhanced their reputation and socialcurrency both within her nauseating Tory brotherhood they represent and across theinternet by wandering around Madison lying about all they see) their repeated lies andgeneral commitment to irresponsible citizen-journalism (how dare they sneak around anongoing citizen protest...

Last fall, leftist ideological groups of socialists and communists teamed up with American labor unions to march together for “One Nation.” Now, as labor leaders struggle to maintain a stranglehold on collective bargaining privileges in Wisconsin, the same groups are once again marching together under a banner claiming unions are the heart of the American dream.As we’ve reported, former White House green jobs czar Van Jones this week issued a rallying call for the progressive movement to “renew itself and become again a national force with which to be reckoned.” On Saturday, progressive groups and labor unions are reportedly planning...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Hundreds of protesters condemning Israel's recent raid on an international flotilla bound for Gaza are picketing at the Port of Oakland, where an Israeli ship is due to arrive. The demonstrators gathered Sunday to prevent the incoming ship from being unloaded. The dock's day shift of longshoremen agreed to not cross the picket line. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel said it will immediately allow all goods into Gaza except weapons and items deemed to have a military use under its decision to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli officials had decided last week to ease the...

Jennifer Loewenstein, a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, says Israel's deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla was a "very carefully planned action" subsidized by the United States. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was carrying food and medical supplies to Gaza, came under fire early Monday morning by Israeli navy forces in international waters more than 150km off the coast of Gaza. Twenty international activists are reported to have been killed and 50 others injured in the incident. The following is the transcript of Press TV's interview with Jennifer Loewenstein: Press TV: The first question that comes to...

IBM is threatening to leave organizations that set standards for software interoperability because of concerns that their processes are not always fair. ... IBM was one of the most vocal opponents of a file format created by Microsoft and approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as an international standard earlier this year. ... Microsoft has long been accused of dominating the market for office productivity programs due to its use of closed file formats. Microsoft changed course, however, and submitted its OOXML format to become an international standard, which means other vendors could implement OOXML in their products....

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Microsoft may have won a year-long quest to make its OOXML (Office Open XML) document format an ISO-recognized international standard, but claims of foul play in the voting process may come back to haunt the software giant when the European Commission concludes its latest antitrust investigation of Microsoft's business practices. When the Commission, Europe's top antitrust authority, opened a probe into Microsoft's business practices in January, it said part of the investigation would examine whether OOXML, as the format is known, is "sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products." A month later ,the Commission sent a confidential request for information to all the national divisions...

SEATTLE (AP) — The format Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2007 programs use to save documents was approved as an international standard Tuesday, a step the company touted as proof it is willing to make once-proprietary technology work openly with competing programs. But the International Standards Organization vote didn't quiet some opponents, who argued that the Office Open XML standard still locks out competitors and gives Microsoft customers no choice but to keep buying its programs forever. The decision was made public on the Web site of a European standards organization, Ecma International, on Tuesday. ISO is expected to formally announce the...

Bomb threat empties state power-grid offices - Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Authorities on Monday were investigating two suspicious incidents involving the California Independent System Operator that led to the evacuation of employees from their offices, officials said. A suspect had been identified but had not yet been arrested, ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle said Monday night, adding she could not say whether the suspect is an ISO employee. Power to several ISO computer systems was interrupted late Sunday, McCorkle said, but it did not affect the state's power grid, and all systems were restored by 6 a.m....

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh police are investigating a death threat against the school’s College Republicans chair. Nate Nelson received an e-mailed death threat last month, the day after attending a political rally on campus. The e-mail threatened both Nelson’s life and the life of his wife, Kelly. The threat came after Nelson had notified police that organizers of the rally were in violation of meeting codes established on campus. “My initial reaction [to the threat] was shock,” Nelson told The Badger Herald. “I didn’t think people would go that far.” According to Nelson, the threat said, “Quit with your political bullshit...

University of Wisconsin students gathered Wednesday night to discuss the United States’ longstanding relations with Israel and its implications on modern foreign policy. The discussion, titled “Axis of Empire: Why the U.S. Supports Israel’s Terror,” was hosted by the International Socialist Organization’s Madison branch. Generating debate about the U.S. motives for maintaining relations with Israel, the discussion peered into exactly what sparked the conflict between Israel and Lebanon this summer. UW graduate student and ISO member Elizabeth Wrigley-Field said Progressives in America should try to get the government to stop funding Israel and to “stop pursuing its own military adventurism”...

A new group, called "Middle East Solidarity" (AKA support the terrorists and worship Saint Pancake, Rachel Corrie), was created by the ultra left on my campus. The reason for formation of this group is that Stop the War had it's Student Org status revoked due to it's vandalism to the ROTC building (cutting the rope to the US flag) and constant harassment of recuiters at events. Also, I suspect a link to the International Solidarity movement, thus the Saint Pancake reference earlier. There is one catch however. The problem with the new group is that it is a contiuation of...

George W. Bush’s speech to the nation on May 15, 2006 highlighting deployment of the National Guard to the Mexican border represents an aggressive policy of racist, anti-immigrant demonization and hysteria. It was a demagogic attempt to mobilize the conservative base and appeal to fear in the lead-up to the November Election, and impact the current Senate debate. Bush’s call for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ includes predominantly punitive, exploitative measures that belie the democratic traditions of our country. His proposals to maintain 6,000 National Guard troops at the border and increase facilities to imprison immigrants constitute the domestic side of...

APRIL SHOWERS bring summer power. That's the upside all of those gloomy, rainy days. Some of that water, collected as Sierra snow pack, will flow into rivers and generate hydropower. It's one of the factors responsible for this summer's adequate power outlook, state officials say. The positive outlook comes despite the possibility a pair of natural-gas-fired power plants in the East Bay may shut down soon. Last Thursday, Mirant Corp. gave 90 days notice to state regulators that it may have to shut down a unit at its Antioch plant and another one at its Pittsburg plant if the company...

Radical organizations, including active communist and revolutionary socialist organizations, were the driving force organizing the immigration boycott rally at Union Square in New York City on Monday. WND attended the event and took over 350 photographs documenting the effort by the radical political left to deliver an anti-American, anti-imperialist message under the guise of an "immigration rights" rally. The "Immigrant Boycott Day" was intentionally scheduled for May 1, worldwide known as the communist and socialist "May Day" holiday celebrating the struggle of "exploited workers" internationally. This scheduling decision was downplayed by the mainstream media. Documenting how carefully the radical political...