voxmagi
Wyoming: The New Cayman Islands
Kelly Carr and Brian Grow recently reported in Yahoo Finance:
The secretive business havens of Cyprus and the Cayman Islands face a potent rival: Cheyenne, Wyoming.
At a single address in this sleepy city of 60,000 people, more than 2,000 companies are registered. The building, 2710 Thomes Avenue, isn’t a shimmering skyscraper filled with A-list corporations. It’s a 1,700-square-foot brick house with a manicured lawn, a few blocks from the State Capitol.
Neighbors say they see little activity there besides regular mail deliveries and a woman who steps outside for smoke breaks. Inside, however, the walls of the main room are covered floor to ceiling with numbered mailboxes labeled as corporate “suites.” A bulky copy machine sits in the kitchen. In the living room, a woman in a headset answers calls and sorts bushels of mail.
A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a little Cayman Island on…
Women Activists In UK Protest Police Infiltration And Sex Tactics
For all those who still imagine that infiltration of activists is a myth… From James Meikle at the Guardian:
Women activists are to blockade Scotland Yard today, intending to demand to know the identity of any undercover police who have infiltrated their organisations.
As evidence continued to emerge of police officers having had sexual relations with people they were monitoring, the women said they wanted to know if they had been “abused” by police.
Though senior police insisted that sleeping with activists during such operations was banned, a former agent claimed such “promiscuity” routinely had the blessing of commanders.
The activists’ concerns follow the revelation that the undercover PC Mark Kennedy had sexual relationships with several women during the seven years he spent infiltrating environmental activists’ groups. Last week the Guardian identified more officers who had sex with the protesters they were sent to spy on. One officer, Jim Boyling, married an activist and…
Teeth From Homo Sapiens Older Than Accepted History Of Homo Sapiens
Qesem Cave, Israel. Source: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University
In keeping with Disinfo’s tradition of challenging accepted boundaries in all things, as well as in the spirit of the disinformation book Underground!, here’s a little jewel of a discovery written by Daniel Estrin for AP via Yahoo News. Homo Sapiens teeth … potentially 400,000 years old. So much for the old timeline of human history!
Israeli archaeologists said Monday they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern man, and if so, it could upset theories of the origin of humans.
A Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said teeth found in the cave are about 400,000 years old and resemble those of other remains of modern man, known scientifically as Homo sapiens, found in Israel. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half as old.
“It’s very exciting to come to this…
Laser Attacks On Planes Rising
Warning for laser beam, symbol D-W010 according to DIN 4844-2
Years ago pilots were developing the symptoms that indicated laser attack (retina damage, seizures etc, vision loss) and were dismissed as unrelated medical issues. Now there is too much evidence to ignore, and too many incidents to brush them aside. Marnie Hunter for CNN:
A spike in the incidence of people pointing lasers into the cockpits of planes has the Federal Aviation Administration worried and encouraging public vigilance.
“It sounds silly, but this is a serious problem,” wrote FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt on Wednesday in a Department of Transportation blog post highlighting the agency’s concerns.
“Why is this dangerous? Lasers can distract pilots or temporarily blind a pilot while he or she is taking off or landing an aircraft,” Babbitt said.
This year, 2,200 instances have been reported nationwide. In 2005, there were 283 reports of people pointing lasers at planes…
[continues at CNN]
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Vatican Bank Investigated For Money Laundering – Again.
I wonder which banking official will suddenly die during this investigation? Victor L. Simpson and Nicole Winfield report for AP:
VATICAN CITY – This is no ordinary bank: The ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.
Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it’s under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize euro23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the “Vatican Bank” has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a “misunderstanding” and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws “with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital.” The documents also reveal investigators’ suspicions that…
Planned Protest Results In Detainment – Of 12-Year-Old Boy
British Prime Minister David Cameron
The gloves have been off for awhile, but does anyone need a clearer reminder that activism and peaceful protest have been categorized as terrorism? From the UK’s Daily Mirror:
A schoolboy trying to save his youth club was hauled from class after his plan to protest outside David Cameron’s constituency office was spotted — by anti-terror police.
In an astonishing over-reaction, 12-year-old Nicky Wishart was warned he faced ARREST.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The policeman asked me lots of questions about why we were having a protest and who would be there. I said it was simply because we didn’t want our youth centre to close — it’s a fantastic place to go and there isn’t much else for us to do round here.”
The full-scale security operation swung into effect days after Nicky made an innocent request on Facebook to “save our youth centre”.
The surprised boy was…
Non-Surprise: Assange’s Accuser Linked To CIA
Anna Ardin
An interesting ‘coincidence’ in the still unfolding honey pot trap that has ensnared Julian Assange. From Kirk Murphy at Firedoglake.com:
Yesterday Alexander Cockburn reminded us of the news Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett broke at Counterpunch in September. Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of seventy three Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.
Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes…
Thawing Siberian Permafrost Leaking More Methane Than Ever
Siberia
We can endlessly dispute whether the changes are man-made or natural, but change isn’t a question, it’s a reality. From Arthur Max via AP:
CHERSKY, Russia – The Russian scientist shuffles across the frozen lake, scuffing aside ankle-deep snow until he finds a cluster of bubbles trapped under the ice. With a cigarette lighter in one hand and a knife in the other, he lances the ice like a blister. Methane whooshes out and bursts into a thin blue flame.
Gas locked inside Siberia’s frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground has begun thawing more rapidly, accelerating the release of methane — a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — at a perilous rate.
Some scientists believe the thawing of permafrost could…
Google News Censors Liberal Blogs
In case there was actual doubt that Google was a powerful corporate entity biased in all the same ways as other large scale media empires, here’s a little jewel from the folks at SFGate:
Yep. You read that correctly: “Google News Politics: Anti Sarah Palin Post Gets Google Censorship.” That’s another way of saying this blogger’s Zennie62.com blog was not included in Google News after a blog post called “Will Sarah Palin Ever Shut Up?”
Prior to Friday, November 19th, when that post, and others on Zennie62 for that day were included on Google News, then taken off and moved to Google Blog Search, Zennie62.com had become a major presence on Google News, outperforming many news sites, and showing a way toward a positive future for media that can be done by anyone. A truly democratic effort. But what’s Google News?
Google News is a news aggregator that places the “news of the day”…
Community Action Stops Westboro Baptist Protest
Whatever a person may feel about the politics surrounding the multiple issues involved, lessons can be taken from the small community that found a way to beat Fred Phelps at his own game, legally and morally, with non-violent techniques. Via UPI.
WESTON, Mo., Nov. 7 — A small Missouri town turned out to keep Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church from protesting a soldier’s funeral.
The funeral of Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, who died Oct. 24 from wounds in Afghanistan, was held Saturday in Weston, Mo.
“I’d say probably half the people in Weston are here,” Marine veteran Eric Moser told WDAF-TV, Kansas City, Mo.
Sadell was in the Arif Kala region of Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed Oct. 5. He was 34 and leaves a wife and two sons.
“We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots,” said Rebecca Rooney, who organized the supporters. “We did that…
Bill Moyers: Welcome To Plutocracy!
Bill Moyers
Mr. Moyers delivers his take on what went wrong, where it’s leading, and what to do about it. Take it as you will, but I think it nails the big issues right to the wall for all to see. Via TruthOut:
Bill Moyers speech at Boston University on October 29, 2010, as a part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series.
I was honored when you asked me to join in celebrating Howard Zinn’s life and legacy. I was also surprised. I am a journalist, not a historian. The difference between a journalist and an historian is that the historian knows the difference. George Bernard Shaw once complained that journalists are seemingly unable to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization. In fact, some epic history can start out as a minor incident. A young man named Paris ran off with a beautiful woman who was married to someone…
Portable Solar Powered Desalination System A Reality
I’ve been clamoring for this kind of tech to break out of development status and into marketability for most of the last decade, and it’s just great to see it finally manifest in a way that allows for ease of transport and comparatively simple maintenance. In a world top-heavy with serious issues, this is a breath of fresh air … or more to the point, a drink of fresh water. Stephen C. Webster writes on RAW Story:
About one in eight humans do not have access to clean drinking water, according to the World Health Organization. That’s approximately 884 million people.
The repercussion of this reality are a daily reality in developing nations: an estimated 1.4 million children perish each year due to diarrhea brought on by waterborne bacteria. In spite of breathtaking advances in human technology, over 97 percent of the world’s water is still undrinkable.
And while salty or impure water…
FBI Wants Its GPS Back After Device Is Found By Student
Afterwards, agents told him not to worry … because he’s “boring”… but apparently he was just interesting enough to merit between 3 to 6 months of observation … and a GPS tracker under his car. From Kim Zetter at Wired. Enjoy the article … and consider its ramifications.
A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do.
It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted their expensive device back, the student told Wired.com in an interview Wednesday.
The answer came when half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device.
Oklahoma City Bombing Tapes Surface Edited?
As reported by the AP, carried by Yahoo News:
OKLAHOMA CITY — Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday. “The real story is what’s missing,” said Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney who obtained the recordings through the federal Freedom of Information Act as part of an unofficial inquiry he is conducting into the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.
