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'Seasteads' offer libertarians the vision of floating cities for the future

Paul Peachey
The Independent
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© Independent
The Swimming City by Andras Gyorfi, the winning entry in a Seasteading Institute design contest.

Available soon, for sale or rent: brand new island with sea views from the terrace, fresh fish daily and swimming pool in the resort hotel. An ideal base for 225 pioneers with £100m-plus to spare and a yearning for a new political and social system.

And if you don't like it, no problem. Hitch the house to the back of a tug boat and try somewhere else.

For the right-wing American libertarian with deep-seated problems with Big Government, the 19th century challenge to "Go West, young man" retains a powerful appeal. But for the current target audience - the free-wheeling capitalist dotcom millionaire in Silicon Valley - going west means getting wet.

Not an issue, according to a new design report investigating the feasibility of "seasteads", communities of like-minded, self-governing individuals established on the high seas, free from what its proponents see as the restrictions of nations, welfare systems and punitive taxes.

The seasteading movement has emerged as a political movement - with nods to climate change and land shortages - to create new water-borne city states. Over 85 pages, a Dutch engineering and urban development company has outlined the feasibility of a floating "village" for 225 permanent residents and 50 hotel guests - a blueprint that the pioneering seasteaders hope will become hundreds of floating petri dishes of social and political experiments.
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Pistol

Wall Street advisor recommends guns, ammo for protection in collapse

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 12:33 UTC
Image
© Washington Examiner
Image from Marotta's website warning investors to prepare a "bug-out" bag in case of a fiscal collapse.
A top financial advisor, worried that Obamacare, the NSA spying scandal and spiraling national debt is increasing the chances for a fiscal and social disaster, is recommending that Americans prepare a "bug-out bag" that includes food, a gun and ammo to help them stay alive.

David John Marotta, a Wall Street expert and financial advisor and Forbes contributor, said in a note to investors, "Firearms are the last item on the list, but they are on the list. There are some terrible people in this world. And you are safer when your trusted neighbors have firearms."

His memo is part of a series addressing the potential for a "financial apocalypse." His view, however, is that the problems plaguing the country won't result in armageddon. "There is the possibility of a precipitous decline, although a long and drawn out malaise is much more likely," said the Charlottesville, Va.-based president of Marotta Wealth Management.

Marotta said that many clients fear an end-of-the-world scenario. He doesn't agree with that outcome, but does with much of what has people worried.
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Cell Phone

Teen arrested for pulling knife on dad after not getting iPhone for Xmas

Jon David Kahn
Breitbart.com
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
ipad knife drama

A Massachusetts teenager was arrested on Christmas day after police say he pulled a knife on his father because he did not receive an iPhone he wanted for Christmas. 18-year-old Alexander Torres was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and malicious damage to a motor vehicle, according to Brockton Police Lt. Bruce Zeidman.

"The suspect was fighting with everyone in the house and he pulled out a knife on his father," Zeidman said.

Torres' father was uninjured but the teen's 24-year-old stepbrother was sent to Good Samaritan Medical Center, although police did not provide information as to why.
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Laptop

Irony: the U.K.'s new porn filters have blocked the homepage of the pro-censorship politician who promoted the filters

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw
The Daily Dot
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 22:45 UTC
Claire Perry
© Flickr
Claire Perry

After numerous reports of harmless sites being blocked as "inappropriate," Britain's new Internet content filters are currently best known as a nuisance. Rather than succeeding in their intended purpose of protecting children from online porn, they're managing to block hundreds of innocuous sites - including the homepage of the pro-censorship politician who campaigned for the filters to be introduced.

Almost every major ISP in the U.K. has now implemented the content filters, which act as a kind of "net nanny" service to block hardcore porn, extremist political sites, drugs, alcohol, violence and suicide-related content, and a selection of other topics deemed inappropriate for children to be viewing online.

When setting up a new Internet connection, customers are given the option of modifying or opting out of these content filters, but it still took less than 24 hours for someone to create a proxy service that allows people to circumvent the filters if they didn't have access to their own ISP.

The so-called "porn filters" have already been criticized for blocking multiple sites containing non-pornographic sexual content, including sex education and LGBT support sites. O2, one of the top four ISPs in the U.K., has even had to amend its filters after users discovered that they were blocked from various childrens' charities, the Samaritans, and the British Library.
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Better Earth

Secret Santa saves dog after being hit by car in Bradenton, Florida

Max Wintiz
MySuncoast
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 22:31 UTC
Bandit
© MySuncoast
Bandit.
An anonymous Good Samaritan, or in this case, a secret Santa, has given the best gift of all this year to a little dog named, Bandit. The gift of life.

On Christmas night, Bandit, a poodle mix, was hit by a car on Tamiami Trail in Bradenton. The driver fled the scene and left Bandit in the middle of the road to die. Moments later, another driver stopped her car, put Bandit inside and rushed to the Veterinary Emergency Center in Bradenton.

"He was essentially comatose when he came in. Initially we thought he wasn't going to make it," said Dr. Ilonka Ambros, with the Veterinary Emergency Center.

Bandit is suffering from internal injuries, severe road rash and various cuts and bruises.

Had it not been for the anonymous Good Samaritan, Bandit would have certainly died.
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Gear

Posted on a humor site former chief of security for Israeli airports: Serious takedown of the TSA

Sharona Schwartz
The Blaze
Wed, 25 Dec 2013 11:30 UTC
Image
© Flickr
Rafi Sela, the former chief of security for Israeli airports, has a blistering takedown of the TSA
In a blistering takedown of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's approach to airport security, the former chief of security for Israeli airports described an agency riddled with incompetence and wastefulness and that, despite large infusions of government money, may never have actually stopped a single terror attack. The TSA may even be inviting a deadly attack on airline passengers due to poor planning, he charged.

Though his analysis was posted on the humor website Cracked, airline security expert Rafi Sela detailed serious flaws in American airport protection, ones he contrasted starkly with his own experience in Israel.

For one thing, Sela said the notion that standing in a security line and stripping off one's shoes is a "necessary precursor to safe flying" is "bullsh**."

"The TSA couldn't protect you from a 6-year-old with a water balloon," Sela wrote.

Sela told TheBlaze that despite posting the article on a humor site, it is serious and accurately reflects his analysis of the dire state of American airports, which he shared in detail with Cracked writer Robert Evans.

"There is truth in every parody," Sela told TheBlaze in an email. "I think when we get to a stage where Congress has been made aware of the issues and decided not to act even on a pilot basis and continue to waste billions of dollars of the taxpayers' money to make the big industries bigger, it might be a good idea to just joke about it because NO ONE is taking this seriously anyway."

Comment: Obviously, security is not TSA's purpose. With all of the people TSA has molested, harassed, humiliated and violated it makes you wonder what their true purpose is:

US Congresswoman Blackburn: TSA is staffed with pedophiles and child pornographers
Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts
ABC producer says TSA agent felt inside her underwear
Toddler Terrorist: TSA threatens lockdown over 4-year-old girl
Rape Survivor Devastated by TSA Enhanced Pat Down
More Women Speaking Out About Humiliating Experiences With TSA
US: TSA Pats Down Breast Cancer Survivor Even After Getting Scanned
Miss USA molested by TSA
TSA agents took my son
Wheelchair-bound girl, 12, with brittle bone disorder left in tears after TSA detains her for an hour 'after detecting traces of explosives on her hands'
TSA Forces Woman to Pump Breast Milk into Bottles Before Boarding
TSA and cop abuse new mother - A Blood Boiler!
Airport passenger screener charged in distributing child pornography
TSA agent: 'We laugh at your nude images, dear passengers'
Meg McLain Singled out by the TSA, Cuffed to a Chair, Her Ticket Ripped up
Woman Sobs Over Sexual Violation By TSA Agent
US: Harold Rodman, TSA worker, arrested for sexual assault
TSA Hiring Pedophiles and Child Pornographers
Young Boy Strip Searched by TSA
Menstruating woman subjected to TSA grope because panty-liner obscured her vulva on pornoscanner

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Cut

CNN Poll: Opposition to Obamacare hits record Highs, support crashes to new lows

Mike Opelka
The Blaze
Wed, 25 Dec 2013 15:44 UTC
Image
© CNN
The results of CNN's latest poll on Obamacare were delivered just two days before Christmas - and it's unlikely they are making President Barack Obama very happy.
Image
© Zero Hedge
The telephone poll, taken between December 13-19, asked 1035 adults - 950 of whom were registered voters - the following question: "As you may know, a bill that makes major changes to the country's health care system became law in 2010. Based on what you have read or heard about that legislation, do you generally favor or generally oppose it?"
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Camcorder

Burglar calls police after inadvertently stealing child sex abuse videos

Al Goodman
CNN
Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:23 UTC
Image
© shutterstock
If you doubt there's an unwritten code of honor among criminals -- governing certain behavior that's just not permitted -- consider this:

Police say a burglar in southern Spain who stole an old Super 8 camera and tapes from a home discovered to his horror the graphic video content of a man sexually abusing boys.

The burglar put three tapes in a brown envelope, hid them under a parked car, and then called police from a public phone, directing them to go find it.

Inside the envelope, police found a note with the home address of the suspected pedophile and a message from the burglar:

"I've had the misfortune that these tapes have fallen into my hands and I feel obligated to turn them in so that you can do your job and put that (expletive) in prison for life."

Spanish national police confirmed Thursday they arrested a 64-year-old suspected child molester this week at his home -- the one that had been burglarized -- in the southern provincial capital of Jaen.

The suspect is a local football (soccer) coach who lived alone. He lured some of his young players into watching pornographic videos together, and then sexually abused them, police said.
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Card - VISA

Target denies insider claims that encrypted PINs were stolen along with 40 million card numbers


Daily Mail
Wed, 25 Dec 2013 15:29 UTC
Image
  • Target hackers allegedly stole encrypted PINS in 'sophisticated' operation
  • The retailer says it has learned of some scam emails related to breach but doesn't have specific information as to how it happened
  • Details of 40 million credit and debit card accounts stolen between November 27 and December 15
  • Target claimed Wednesday that encrypted personal ID numbers were not accessed by hackers
  • Target faces at least 15 lawsuits seeking class action status
Target Corp is crying foul on insiders who recently told the media that encrypted PINs were stolen along with more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers in the retail behemoth's catastrophic data breach.

The hackers who attacked Target Corp and compromised more than 40 million credit cards and debit cards also managed to steal encrypted personal identification numbers, according to a senior payments executive familiar with the situation told Reuters.

However, Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder insisted that 'no unencrypted PIN data was accessed' and there was no evidence that PIN data has been 'compromised'.

She confirmed that some 'encrypted data' was stolen, but declined to say if that included encrypted PINs.
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Whistle

The Real Snowden

Andy Greenberg
Forbes
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:30 UTC
Image
© Forbes
The Electronic Frontier Foundation hoodie Edward Snowden often wore to work in his NSA Hawaii office.
Perhaps Edward Snowden's hoodie should have raised suspicions.

The black sweatshirt sold by the civil libertarian Electronic Frontier Foundation featured a parody of the National Security Agency's logo, with the traditional key in an eagle's claws replaced by a collection of AT&T cables, and eavesdropping headphones covering the menacing bird's ears. Snowden wore it regularly to stay warm in the air-conditioned underground NSA Hawaii Kunia facility known as "the tunnel."

His coworkers assumed it was meant ironically. And a geek as gifted as Snowden could get away with a few irregularities.

Months after Snowden leaked tens of thousands of the NSA's most highly classified documents to the media, the former intelligence contractor has stayed out of the limelight, rarely granting interviews or sharing personal details. A 60 Minutes episode Sunday night, meanwhile, aired NSA's officials descriptions of Snowden as a malicious hacker who cheated on an NSA entrance exam and whose work computers had to be destroyed after his departure for fear he had infected them with malware.

But an NSA staffer who contacted me last month and asked not to be identified - and whose claims we checked with Snowden himself via his ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner - offered me a very different, firsthand portrait of how Snowden was seen by his colleagues in the agency's Hawaii office: A principled and ultra-competent, if somewhat eccentric employee, and one who earned the access used to pull off his leak by impressing superiors with sheer talent.
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