Posts - Americans

Belgium Sues Facebook For Stalking People Who Aren’t Even Users

Finance

After months of wrangling, Belgium’s Privacy Commissioner is pressing ahead with a lawsuit against Facebook for stalking people who aren’t its users.

Belgian authorities have found indisputable evidence that the company is flagrantly tracking both its own users and, more importantly, people who don’t want to be tracked.

The Commission de Protection de la Vie Privée (CPVP) had warned Facebook in March that a lawsuit was possible unless it took substantive steps to address its concerns, while in May it published a report that said “Facebook violates European and Belgian legislation on privacy”.

The CPVP commissioned research by iMinds, the University of Leuven and Vrije University to examine Facebook’s tracking technology in detail. The report found that the tracking conducted by Facebook easily allowed the company to connect peoples’ identities with their medical history, religious preferences, sexuality and political orientation.

The CPVP, in addition to taking Facebook to court over the invasion of privacy, suggests that users get privacy add-ons like Ghostery, Blur or Disconnect in order to protect their information.

According to CPVP chairman Willem Debeuckelaere, Facebook’s high handed response was that it doesn’t accept either the Belgian law or the authority of the privacy commission.

Its similar to Google’s ‘we’re from the internet so laws don’t apply to us’ strategy, which has been shot down across the globe, most recently in Canada.

The company, which makes tons of money off this data stealing, understandably wants to keep negotiating, but Debeuckelaere and the CPVP are tired of Facebook’s disingenuous negotitating tactics. The chairman said he’d rather not launch a lawsuit, but “we can not continue to negotiate through other means”, he said. “We want a judge to impose our recommendations”.

Facebook called the action “theatrical,” and a company spokesperson said backhandedly that it’s “happy to work with them through a dialogue with us at Facebook Ireland and with our regulator, the Irish data protection commissioner”.

In addition to the Belgian lawsuit, Facebook faces legal actions in The Netherlands in addition to a pan-European investigation in which Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany are working together.

Egyptian Court Upholds Death Sentence For Radical Islamic Ex-Prime Minister

Entertainment News

Egypt, unphased by opposition for radical Islamist lawyers in South Africa, upheld a death sentence Tuesday against the country’s former radical Islamist President, Mohamed Morsy.

Morsy, 63, was sentenced to death last month for his role in a 2011 conspiracy to free radical Muslims from an Egyptian prison.

The former president was sentenced along with 16 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who were given a life sentence for espionage. Morsy received a life sentence for the second charge. Life in Egypt is 25 years in prison.

Three more senior members of the radical Muslim brotherhood, Khairat Al Shater, Mohamed Beltagy and Ahmed Abdel Alaty, were also sentenced to death by hanging.

Morsy, who was elected to power in a fraudulent election held just after the Arab Spring riots, was ousted by the military in 2013 after just a year in office.

Morsy, and his hardline followers, sought to enact strict Islamist rule over the country, which would have effectively turned one of the mid-east’s most progressive countries into an Iran-like backwater.

Honda Announces 1.2 Million Vehicle Recall Due To More Faulty Airbags

News

The scope of the Takata airbag problems continue to widen, as Honda now says that a whopping 1.4 million cars, already with driver airbag issues, will also need their passenger side airbags replaced as well.

The automaker had previously only planned to replace the passenger airbags in 350,000 of those cars in humid areas of the country, which Takata reported were most at risk of problems.

While all recalled cars are repaired at no expense to the vehicle’s owner, the widened scope of the issue leads to serious questions about how much danger consumers have been in due to the faulty airbags.

That concern is front and center with the latest recall as the affected models, the 2001 to 2005 Civic and the 2003 to 2007 Accord, are among the best-selling cars in the country.

Airbag maker Takata initially attempted to limit the recalls to humid regions but was forced by U.S. safety regulators to recall all U.S. cars with the airbags.

The expansion makes the recall the largest in history, with a stunning 34 million cars now needing to be repaired. The recalls are spread across 15 separate brands and more than 60 different models of cars and trucks.

At least seven deaths have been confirmed to be a result of the exploding airbags, all of them involving driver airbags. Just last week Honda confirmed the seventh death tied to an exploding airbag, which involved Kylan Langlinais, a 22-year-old Lafayette, Louisiana woman who died in an April 5th accident. According to Honda she had been mailed a recall notice regarding her 2005 Honda Civic just three days prior to the accident.

Pentagon Confirms Top Al Qaeda Commander Killed By Drone Strike

Entertainment News

Reports have leaked that Al Qaeda’s second in command, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, was killed in a targeted drone strike in Yemen on Friday, according to Yemeni security officials.

While major media outlets called the killing “a heavy setback to the leadership of the international terrorist group,” in the face of ISIS it remains to be seen just how big a threat Al Qaeda actually is these days.

By all accounts, as we’ve covered here, ISIS has been dominating the smaller and less well funded Al Qaeda group.

The Obama administration has also admitted they do not have a plan for dealing with ISIS and appear set on running out the clock and leaving the problem to the next administration rather than committing resources to actually fight the terror group.

So the announcement that Al-Wuhayshi, supposedly the top leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed sounds a bit hollow in light of the huge threat posed by ISIS.

His death was called “the biggest blow against al Qaeda since the death of bin Laden,” according to terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.

Al-Wuhayshi was a “leading light” of al Qaeda and was expected to take over from its current global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said Cruickshank.

The killing was confirmed on Tuesday, after AQAP released a video statement announcing that its leader and two assistants had died. The speaker, somewhat foolishly, said that the group’s military chief, Qasm al-Rimi, would succeed al-Wuhayshi.

“If it’s true, it is a significant blow. Leadership matters,” Sen. Angus King, an independent of Maine, said to reporters on Monday.

Yet while a blow to a known terror network, the timing of the attack, and the large amount of publicity it received in U.S. mainstream media, raise serious questions about America’s handling of terror groups in the middle east.

The killing of Al-Wuhayshi is likely to serve as more of a political tool for the Obama administration than a truly effective blow to America’s enemies. ISIS remains the most pressing threat to the United States and the Obama administration continues to be unwilling to committing to a plan that curbs their spread.

Malaysia Has A Pirate Problem: Second Ship This Month Goes Missing

Entertainment News

A small oil tanker has gone missing off the southeast coast of Malaysia, near Singapore, over the weekend in what could be the second case of piracy this month, maritime officials said on Monday.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the 7,300 deadweight tonne Orkim Harmony disappeared about 30 nautical miles from the port of Tanjung Sedili. The ship was carrying nearly 48,000 barrels of gasoline.

“Orkim Sdn Bhd regretfully confirms the report issued by Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency that the Company has lost contact with its vessel Orkim Harmony early morning 12 June,” the ship’s owner said in a statement.

“Orkim Harmony was on her laden passage from Malacca to the Port of Kuantan, having departed on 10 June 2015 at 0930 hours (local time) and originally expected to arrive at the Port of Kuantan on 12 June 2015 also at 0930 hours,” the shipper said.

The ship’s last known position was south-west of Pulau Aur, Mersing in Malaysian waters, Orkim said. “She was carrying 22 crew members consisting of 16 Malaysians, five Indonesians and one Myanmar national,” it added.

Orkim has informed family members of the crew set up a 24-hour hotline to respond to queries by families. The company said it was working with Malaysian search and rescue teams that had been activated to find the Orkim Harmony.

Earlier this month, the 7,100 ton oil tanker Orkim Victory, sailing to Kuantan from Malacca, was hijacked on June 4th in the same area by an armed speedboat.

“The perpetrators were armed with two hand guns and one machete. They threatened the crew (comprising eight Malaysians, seven Indonesians and three Myanmar nationals) and reportedly assaulted them, though no injuries were reported,” Singapore-based Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) said in a statement.

“The perpetrators subsequently brought Orkim Victory to another location, and siphoned off 770 tonnes (about 6,000 barrels) of automotive diesel oil,” it added. The Orkim Victory has since been released. That vessel too was owned by Orkim, meaning the company appears to be specifically targeted.

Shippers have reported a rise in such hijackings recently but that because of excess oil capacity and strong insurance competition, shipping rates have been unaffected. Insurance companies usually dramatically increase rates if there is threat of piracy, which shippers must then raise rates as well.

Former Law Dean: America Is Addicted To Incarceration

News

Robert Lawson, former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, thinks America has an addiction problem.

Specifically, he told the Berea Rotary Club that he increasingly feels that the nation is addicted to incarceration.

In 1970, prior to launching its “war on crime” and “war on drugs,” the nation had just 110 people in jails and prisons per 100,000 people. Today, that number is 740 per 100,000.

That’s a 680% increase in the prison population.

Yet despite the nearly seven fold increase, our national crime rate is unchanged, Lawson said.

America’s huge prison population doesn’t make sense when compared to other developed nations. In Canada, England and most of Europe, the rate of incarceration is around 100 per 100,000. In the Japan, the rate is just 60 per 100,000. The worldwide rate is 140 per 100,000.

“We have 2.3 million people locked up,” Lawson said, compared to just 320,000 in 1970. But that’s not the full story.

Another six million people are under supervised probation, parole or home incarceration.

All this jailing comes at a huge cost, both in terms of money and humanity.

Since America was founded it has mostly followed the Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Lawson said, “making sure the punishment fit the crime.”

Then, “we got angry at offenders in the late ’70s” and “distorted the penal code from one end to the other,” he said.

Lawson specifically thinks that non-violent offenses, such as drugs, carry sentences that are far too high and also thinks repeat offender laws are seriously flawed. Many states have laws that consider people persistent felons after three successive convictions, whereby life sentences could, and usually are, imposed.

For profit prisons also don’t help the situation and have even swayed judges with kickbacks and other incentives to put more people in jail.

As the world becomes more connected, the cost of over-jailing becomes enormous. The rise of background checks means that most people, once jailed, can never return to the workforce. This seriously impacts the economy and also leads to more crime due to lack of job opportunities.

U.S. Government Hindering Poland’s Investigation Of Illegal CIA Prisons

News

The U.S. is hindering Poland’s investigation into a secret CIA prison there, a Polish prosecutor charged Saturday. Piotr Kosmaty, spokesman for the Appeals Prosecutor’s Office in Krakow, said that the U.S. has deliberately ignored requests for documents needed for the investigation. Polish prosecutors are particularly interested in a report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that detailed CIA prison locations and practices.

Facts in the report suggested a secret CIA prison existed in Poland from 2002-2003 where terrorist suspects were tortured. Kosmaty said that Poland has asked the U.S. for the full non-redacted version of the report yet the U.S. has declined to provide it. The U.S. has also denied requests for other documents and opportunities to question the alleged victims, who are currently being held in Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama administration claims that releasing the documents would be against national interest. It is likely because the documents detail other CIA “black sites” in other parts of Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

An investigation into the prison has been ongoing in Poland since 2008, though it has largely been conducted under the cover of secrecy . The U.S. has acknowledged its so-called “extraordinary rendition” program in which targets were abducted and then sent to illegal detention facilities around the world.

In November 2013 Poland formally requested that the European Court of Human Rights hold a hearing about the country’s complicity in the CIA secret detention facilities, though the request was denied because of U.S. influence.

Beautiful Jewel Encrusted Skeletons Discovered Beneath Rome

Entertainment News

Beneath the ancient city of Rome is a fascinating and somewhat baffling maze of tombs, first discovered in 1578. The tombs house skeletons of early Christian martyrs who the ancients believed to be saints due to their bravery and unwavering loyalty to the Christian religion.

Named “The Catacomb Saints” by those who first discovered them, the skeletons were distributed across Europe (mainly Germany) to replace holy relics that were destroyed or stolen during the Protestant Reformation.

Upon arrival at their destination they were decorated with precious jewels, expensive cloth, crowns, armor, and even wigs. They were then put on display in churches to remind visitors of the riches that await good, loyal Christians once they die.

Art historian and self-proclaimed relic-hunter Paul Koudounaris developed a profound fascination for the discovery and subsequent story behind the Saints. He traveled the whole of Europe in an attempt to track down each Saint. He discovered that despite their original purpose, many of them had yet to be displayed and were still waiting to be adorned with decorations.

His new book, Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints From the Catacombs details this fascinating story, its origins, and the complete history of the Catacomb Saints.

This book is one of the most elaborate and compelling stories forgotten relics. In addition to the fascinating stories behind who the saints were and which churches wanted them for display, the book also contains beautiful pictures of the ancient relics, some of which we’ve included below.

Federal Trade Commission Steps Up Regulation Of Social Media Advertising

News

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is stepping up its regulation of social media being used to promote and advertise goods and services.

This morning it announced a significant update to its policies regarding the endorsement requirements, specifically targeting the use of social media for marketing. The update is the first since 2010, and many take it as a signal they will begin cracking down on social media marketers who aren’t in full compliance.

Of particular interest to the FTC is the use of celebrities or other influential people to promote brands and the use of contests or anything that could be perceived as a contest.

While the FTC has always required relationships between brands and endorsers on social media to be “clearly and conspicuously” disclosed, they are now providing a much more detailed set of rules. After five years the social media landscape has changed significantly which has necessitated the new guidelines.

Even short messages, like those on Twitter, will be held to the same standard. Promoters must use the #ad or #sponsored hash tags in such cases to let people know its a paid endorsement.

You can check out the full list of the FTC’s new policies here.

Iran Nuclear Deal Stalls As Iranian Supreme Leader’s Health Declines

Entertainment News

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who suffers from prostate cancer, is reportedly near death, potentially derailing an agreement over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

According to reports from the Iranian press, Khamenei may only have months left to live, and an ensuing power struggle between hardliners and moderates over who will succeed him as Iran’s top official could derail talks currently taking place ahead of the June 30th target date.

The sense of instability in the country is new as in March Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerics who appoint the country’s supreme leader, elected ultraconservative Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi to replace Khamenei.

According to new reports, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, a hardline protege of Khamenei’s, has been positioning himself for the role, purging more moderate potential candidates.

Larijani is the brother of Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator and current chairman of the Iranian parliament.

“With so many people jockeying for position, the hardliners will be tempted to prove their revolutionary credentials by vetoing any deal with the US,” a senior western diplomat was quoted as saying. “The fear now is that this could jeopardize any progress we make in resolving the issue and lifting the sanctions.”

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany agreed in April to a framework aimed at ending the decade-old standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

The outline would see Iran dramatically scale down its nuclear activities in order to insure it is unable to quickly produce a nuclear weapon.

In return for its cooperation, Iran will see painful sanctions lifted by the six powers.

Saudi Arabia Executes 100th Prisoner Of The Year, On Pace For Record Human Rights Abuses

News

Saudi Arabia is setting new records for the wrong reasons, as it reportedly took its number of executions for the year to 100, well in excess of last year’s tally and putting it on course for a new record.

The Saudi Press Agency announced two more convicted criminals were killed by the government on Monday, including a foreign national guilty of only a non-violent drug smuggling offence.

Syrian Ismael al-Tawm, convicted of transporting “a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the kingdom”, was beheaded in the northern region of Jawf, according to news agency AFP.

The other man, Rami al-Khaldi, was convicted of stabbing a fellow Saudi to death and was executed in the province of Taef.

The tally of 100 executions for this year, as tracked by AFP, exceeds both the country’s official tally of execution last year of 87 and rights group Amnesty International’s count of “90+”.

According to Middle East Eye, the surge in numbers sees the country on the brink of setting a new record for beheadings – other nations like Iran, China and Pakistan have killed more people, but by different methods.

It also puts Saudi Arabia on course to beat its own record of total executions which, according to Amnesty International, was set at 192 in 1995.

The charity warned that the executions are particularly concerning given almost half were for non-violent drugs-related offences.

Middle east expert Husain Abdulla thinks the rise in executions are directly linked to the new King Salman and his recently-appointed inner circle, exposing a lack of independence of the Saudi judiciary.

“These men have worked tirelessly to further conflate criminal justice with the authority of the monarchy, all while reasserting the government’s seemingly unshakeable commitment to authoritarian rule,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s third highest user of the death penalty.

According to Amnesty International, the top state killers are:

1. China (1000+)
2. Iran (289+)
3. Saudi Arabia (90+)
4. Iraq (61+)
5. USA (35+)
6. Sudan (23+)
7. Yemen (22+)
8. Egypt (15+)
9. Somalia (14+)
10. Jordan (11+)

African Union Summit Ends In Chaos As South Africa Keeps Trying To Arrest World Leaders

Entertainment News

The weekend summit of the African Union, a group of leaders from across Africa, descended into chaos on Sunday as Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was forced to flee South Africa because of an international warrant for his arrest.

South Africa, hardly a shining example of morals, decided that its High Court should decide whether he should be handed over to the International Criminal Court, which charged him with war crimes.

Mr Bashir isn’t the only African leader South Africa tried to arrest at the summit. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi decided not to attend because South Africa wanted to arrest him as well.

The political tactic is bizarre and shows a desperate South Africa is trying to assert itself within Africa despite little basis to do so. While the most developed country on the continent, it has been plagued with scandal, corruption and a wave of xenophobia, which resulted in the public killing of Emmanuel Sithole, an immigrant from Mozambique.

Yet as it loses control of its own country it seems to want to, selectively, meddle in the affairs of its neighbors.

Its approach is haphazard. In trying to arrest el-Sisi the country kowtowed to radical Islamist lawyers who targeted the only rational leader in the middle east. And while Bashir likely deserves to be in jail for his brutal regime, so too does Robert Mugabe, the current chair of the AU.

To target Bashir and not Mugabe is truly bizarre.

Its even more bizarre, given a large number of African countries have decided not to cooperate with the ICC, citing racism and bias against African leaders.

By trying to apprehend leaders of its trade group, South Africa is destroying both its own credibility and that of the African Union.

France Latest Country To Ban Cancer Causing Monsanto Weedkiller Roundup

Health & Wellness

The world seems to be catching on to chemical giant Monsanto’s campaign of lies about its deadly weedkiller Roundup. After a United Nations report found the chemical to cause cancer, French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal announced Sunday that the popular weedkiller would be banned from garden centers.

The weedkiller, which is used by amateur gardeners and commercial farmers, is the star product of American biotechnology giant Monsanto.

“France must be on the offensive with regards to the banning of pesticides,” Royal said in the announcement on French television.

“I have asked garden centers to stop putting Monsanto’s Roundup on sale,” though the ban appears to only remove the product from self-service aisles.

Her announcement came after French consumer association CLCV asked French and European officials to stop selling glyphosate-based products.

Glyphosate is the most-produced weedkiller in the world, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The agency’s evaluation of glyphosate found evidence that it caused a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma, confirming the findings of previous studies in the United States, Sweden and Canada conducted among farm workers since 2001.

U.S. chemical giant Monsanto, infamous for producing another cancer causing chemical, Agent Orange, claims the IARC classification excluded “relevant, scientific data was excluded from review”.

It made similar claims in the 70s and 80s about Agent Orange, which was found to be highly toxic.

For more coverage on Monsanto and its cancer-causing chemicals, click here, here, here and here.

Top Islamic Militant Killed In Rare U.S. Airstrike On Libya

News

The United States Air Force killed a top Islamic militant on Sunday in an air strike on Libya, officials reported.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who ordered a deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant two years ago, was killed in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, according to a statement from Libya’s government.

Air Force officials say Belmokhtar was targeted and that the strike was successful, but that it is still assessing the operation’s results and would release more details “as appropriate”.

The caution likely comes from the fact that Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s death has been reported many times in the past.

Born in Algeria, Belmokhtar became a senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), before leaving to form his own militia.

He gained notoriety for attacking the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in 2013, in which 800 people were taken hostage and 40 were killed. Most of those killed were foreigners, including six Britons and three Americans.

Belmokhtar was wanted on terror charges, filed by the U.S. and officials said they believed he remained a threat to Western interests.

“Belmokhtar has a long history of leading terrorist activities as a member of AQIM, is the operational leader of the al-Qaeda-associated al-Murabitoun organisation in north-west Africa, and maintains his personal allegiance to al-Qaeda,” said Pentagon spokesman Col Steve Warren.

The U.S. hunting Mokhtar Belmokhtar illustrates the breadth and depth of its counter-terrorism efforts.

The attack on Libya was launched by two F-15 aircraft and not drone.

As we recently covered, Libya is an area of concern for both America and Europe. The instability created by the removal of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 is providing a rich vein of ungoverned space in which the Islamic State (ISIS) has established a significant presence.

The Libyan government was consulted on the attack and a statement said it resulted in the death of the “terrorist Belmokhtar”.

Are Pipelines Really Safe? Texas Pipeline Ruptures And Explodes Overnight

News

While nobody was injured, a natural gas pipeline ruptured in rural South Texas, creating a massive fire that forced the evacuation of nearby homes. The huge blaze could be seen from 20 miles away.

The Energy Transfer Partners pipeline ruptured near Lindenau around 8 pm Sunday, according to DeWitt County Emergency Operations Center spokeswoman Peggy Fonseca. Lindenau is about 85 miles southeast of San Antonio.

As of early Monday the gas had been rerouted and the fire was extinguished though seven homes were evacuated and residents won’t be allowed to return home until safety inspections are completed.

Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Vicki Anderson Granado says the company will investigate the cause of the rupture.

The explosion continues to call into question the safety of pipelines, such as the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, given the spotty safety record. As we covered earlier, California just saw its pristine beaches near Santa Barbara ruined by a slow oil leak from a nearby pipeline.

North Korean Soldier Walks Over DMZ And Defects

Entertainment News

One North Korean soldier has apparently had enough of Kim Jong Un and his corrupt regime. The unnamed soldier walked across one of the world’s most heavily defended borders to defect to the South, according to South Korean officials.

The teenager approached a South Korean guard station in north eastern Hwacheon in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on Monday, South Korea’s defence ministry said in a statement.

There was no confrontation or exchange of fire and the soldier is now being held in custody.

Given the extreme security it is exceedingly rare for defectors to walk across the DMZ. The last time someone took the walk was in 2012.

The usual route for defectors is via China, where they then make their way through South East Asia and finally into South Korea.

There are nearly 28,000 North Koreans who have immigrated to the South, with the vast majority taking the China route.

Anti-personnel landmines that litter the 155 mile long DMZ are the main reason its an unpopular escape route.

When a North Korean soldier defected through the wire fence was in October 2012, it was a huge embarrassment for the South Korean military and steps were immediately taken to strengthen border security. The soldier snuck through the fence undetected.

Increased activity by North Korean soldiers in the DMZ the past few months have led experts to believe that the North has been trying to make defections more difficult.

As we reported last month, 16 North Korean defected to the South on dictator Kim Jong Un’s birthday, which deeply angered the rotund leader.

In addition to landmines, the DMZ is fortified with barbed wire and guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers on both side.

Hundreds of North Koreans flee the poverty and a repressive regime of the North each year. Yet defection is risky as the vicious North Korean regime will seek reprisals on family and friends of defectors. It is therefor rare for an individual to defect as usual those that want to escape take their whole families with them.

Saudi Arabia Destroys 2,500 Year Old UNESCO World Heritage Site

Entertainment News

The world was made fully aware of the threat ISIS posed to the UNESCO world heritage site in Palmyra, when the terror group captured the ancient city last month. We, along with other media outlets, covered the takeover and implications in detail.

The potential destruction of the ruins, which date back thousands of years, would represent a tragic defeat in the global effort to preserve the cultural heritage of both the Middle East and civilization itself.

On Friday, another UNESCO world heritage site was actually destroyed, this time in Yemen by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.

Saudi warplanes decimated Old City, a 2,500 year-old collection of towers, gardens, homes, mosques, and public baths in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.

The site was obliterated in an explosion early Friday from a missile or bomb from a Saudi warplane, though the Saudi military of course denied responsibility.

The top antiquities official at the United Nations angrily condemned the destruction, which like so many other Saudi attacks, also killed an unspecified number of residents in Al Qasimi, a neighborhood in Sana’s Old City area.

“I am profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as the damage inflicted on one of the world’s oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape,” said Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

“This heritage bears the soul of the Yemeni people; it is a symbol of a millennial history of knowledge, and it belongs to all humankind,” Ms. Bokova said.

Before Saudi airstrikes:

After Saudi airstrikes:

FTC Starts Regulating The Murky World Of Failed Crowdfunding Projects

Finance

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week finally got involved in the wonderful, and sometimes scammy, world of crowdfunding.

The agency went after Portland-based The Forking Path, Co., run by Erik Chevalier, who promised to make “The Doom That Came to Atlantic City,” a “lighthearted Lovecraftian game of urban destruction, for two to four players.” The company raised $122,874, on popular platform Kickstarter, in exchange for advance copies of the game, pewter figurines, T-shirts and special crediting in the game’s rule book.

Yet over a year later, the company announced that it would no longer be able to produce the game. Chevalier said he would return the collected money to his backers, yet he did not.

The FTC announced Thursday that the unscrupulous crowdfunder instead used the board-game funds “on unrelated personal expenses such as rent, moving himself to Oregon, personal equipment, and licenses for a different project.”

The agency announced a settlement with the company: Chevalier will have to return $111,793.71 to his online donors.

Chevalier has agreed to the settlement without admitting guilt but says he cannot afford to pay at this time.

While Kickstarter’s policies put the onus for determining a project’s authenticity on its users, the FTC feels compelled to intervene.

The move comes after a 2013 initiative by Kickstarter to step in and ban a project that promised to convert pricey Kobe beef to beef jerky after online Reddit commentators raised questions about its legitimacy. The company also took action against a Montreal project that raised over $350,000 to produce a machine to induce lucid dreaming. In both cases, Kickstarter ensured that funders got their dollars back.

Yet the FTC still feels this isn’t enough. Kickstarter’s own policies make no promises of policing its marketplace

Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator’s ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it.

Kickstarter does warn companies that if they “unable to satisfy the terms of this agreement [they] may be subject to legal action by backers.”

It seems as though they may also be subject to action by the FTC. Given the regulator is always late to the game, expect a wave of actions as the agency audits cases and complaints it has received.

New Transparent Displays Pave The Way For Virtual Fitting Rooms

Finance

Thanks to Samsung, retailers may have a new tool in their fight against online shopping. The company launched a new line of mirrored and transparent OLED displays this week, that will function as “virtual fitting rooms,” enabling customers to “see” themselves in clothing items without having to try them on. At least in theory.

The panels use front-facing cameras to detect facial and hand movements, combined with rear-facing cameras to scan the room and other objects. The transparent display’s “3D-rotatable viewing systems,” will allow customers to see a product from multiple angles, replicating the function of traditional mirrors without having to actually change clothes.

Combined with consumer tracking technology like the spy beacons (covered here) offered by Facebook and Apple, its possible that in the very near future these smart fitting rooms could download your profile photos, figure out your size and then display you wearing the clothes on offer just as you walk by them.

And this is precisely the future Samsung sees, as it said that the transparent displays “may also replace home mirrors in the future.”

Whether consumers will welcome the technology or be creeped out by it remains to be seen.

Facebook Ignores History, Bans Adult Content On 3D Headset

Finance

Facebook is known to take what it perceives to be the moral high road when it comes to its social networking platform. It doesn’t think people should see mothers breast feeding and doesn’t believe people should choose their own names, which has led to significant protests and real world harm to its users, as we covered here.

The latest victim of its holier-than-thou policies is the adult entertainment industry, which Facebook announced on Friday will be banned from its Oculus virtual reality headset.

In a move showing just how much control Facebook wants to have over all things 3D, the company is proposing that anything that wants to use Oculus, a set of VR goggles, will have to submit an ‘app’ to its ‘app store’, which will be vetted by the company to ensure it is safe and pleasant.

Just why the world needs an app store to use a set of goggles is another question, answered mostly by Facebook’s quest for control and lock-in, but that’s a topic for another day.

When the Facebook-owned company starts selling its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset in the first quarter of next year, it will explicitly (pun intended) ban virtual adult content.

A company representative reiterated the company’s puritanical position on the matter on Friday:

“Oculus only distributes developer content that meets their terms of service, which forbid pornographic content from being a part of the Oculus Store,” the spokesman said.

Yet its an odd moral stance, given sex is innately human.

And what, then, about violence?

If Oculus wants the world inside its headsets to be a highly censored, family-friendly, environment, how will it handle violent content?

Oculus preferred not to answer that question, stating:

“Oculus only distributes developer content that meets their terms of service, but they aren’t open to discuss what those terms are at this time.”

That’s a loud silence on an issue that’s not hypothetical.

Gaming, after all, is expected to be one of the most popular uses of virtual reality headsets.

The most popular genre of games in the world are first person shooters, which are inherently violent. Grotesquely so, in fact.

Virtual reality will also open the door to other forms of entertainment like 3D movies. What, then, will happen to gory horror movies?

In typical Facebook style there seems to be a rush to put out policies without thinking them through, a move which could have very severe consequences for the profitability of Facebook’s $2 billion Oculus acquisition.

There are no shortage of VR goggle makers. Heavyweights like Sony, Samsung, Google and startups like SeaBreeze, among countless others, have all confirmed plans to make VR goggles and release them about the same time as Oculus. There’s nothing particularly special about Oculus and even if there was, history is not on the company’s side.

It was the adult entertainment industry, after all, which caused the VHS videotape standard to win out over the technically superior Betamax in the early 80s.

The porn business is used to dealing with moral objections to its wares and is also the very earliest adopter of virtually all technology. The industry caters to a massive audience and tends to move in unison. When one big company backs a technology, others quickly follow, establishing the standard for the industry. Right now they’re aggressively developing 3D content ahead of the release of consumer-ready VR goggles.

If Facebook bans the industry they will just go somewhere else. En mass. To Sony or Samsung or Google or whoever lets them operate.

Such a move could severely limit the adoption of Oculus and its plan to standardize the industry around its platform and app store.

By ignoring history Facebook could doomed to repeat it.

Baltimore Now Has So Many Drugs On Its Streets City Could Be High For Years

News

While America watched Baltimore burn, then clean up and then fade from the national conscience in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody, April’s looting will have a lasting impact on the city. And not just for police-citizen relations.

Over the course of the riots an extraordinary amount of drugs were stolen from pharmacies, far more than officials initially believed.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said earlier in June that police were working with federal partners such as the Drug Enforcement Administration to seize more than 175,000 doses of prescription drugs looted from 27 pharmacies and two methadone clinics during the unrest.

“There’s enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated for a year,” Batts said. “That amount of drugs has thrown off the balance on the streets of Baltimore.”

Yet DEA Special Agent Gary Tuggle suspects even more drugs have been stolen than reported. Which makes sense given that 40 percent of the looted pharmacies have not finished counting losses, according to the DEA.

Drugstore chain Rite Aid has hired an outside risk management firm, Kroll, “to alert impacted customers via a letter of notification and share with them the proactive measures it has taken to guard against identity theft.”

Though according to law enforcement officials the crimes seem strictly about the drugs – there has yet to be a report of any identity theft as a result of the thefts.

Federal law requires organizations such as pharmacies, to disclose breaches of customer data. The organizations have 60 days to notify customers when a breach occurs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

What remains certain is that for the next year or two, Baltimore will have more than just high murder rates to contend with. It is now awash in prescription painkillers that, acquired for free, will be sold cheaply to many. Their highly addictive nature will likely plague the city for years to come.

While Most Wearables Make You Work, Startup Thync Just Gives You Energy. And Maybe Even Digital Drugs.

Health & Wellness

Wearable devices are the latest trend in technology. Companies across the industry are scrambling to put sensors into everything, and connect all your stuff to the Internet. Fitness and health are among the more popular categories, with watches and fitness bracelets selling in the hundreds of millions of units.

Yet these devices are mostly the same. They feed you data about how far you’ve walked, how many calories you may have burned, how fast you ran or that you’ve been idle too long.

The goal is simple: Make you work.

The Apple Watch, for instance, vibrates when you’ve been sitting still for too long to get you to walk around.

One company, however, is looking to improve your health but not make you work any harder.

That company is Thync, which was founded by scientists and engineers with decades of experience in neuroscience.

Their first product release aims to increase (or lower) your energy level on demand through electrical stimulation.

No jogging, walking or yoga required.

Thync’s product that uses low-power electrodes attached to your head to provide therapeutic electrical impulses they call ‘Vibes’ in order to alter your energy level.

The System consists of the main module, containing the processing unit and battery, a set of adhesive electrodes, and a smartphone app.

Found Jamie Tyler has a PhD in psychology and behavioral neuroscience, having spent over 20 years studying the brain’s response to electrical stimulation. He’s found that non-invasive brain stimulation has been proven to be safe in medical settings, and that the time is now right for mainstream wearable technology that delivers this benefit.

He’s probably right, as for years there has been a maker movement around bringing this scientifically proven technique to home users. Called the Transcranial Direct Electric Stimulation (tDCS for short), makers have been cobbling together systems using a 9-volt battery and 40 dollars’ worth of spare parts from Amazon for years.

Whole communities exist online to make such machines. People use them to enhance memory when studying for tests, to improve their mood, to relax or get a boost of energy.

Yet the maker community lacks the scientific rigor Tyler is bringing to the market.

The FDA has cleared it for use as a wellness device, which means that it does not treat any specific medical conditions, but is considered safe for use by the general population – something that definitely cannot be said for the DIY blueprints currently available online.

Using Thync couldn’t be much easier. You stick the electrodes for either Energy or Calm on your temple and behind your ear, and choose your desired time and power levels on the smartphone app.

Targeted pulses of electrical energy then hit your forehead and scalp, are either energizing or calming you. The voltage and length of the pulses were tested in a lab setting to be better than a placebo.

Launched on June 3rd, the Thync System retails for $299, with refills of Energy and Calm strips running $20 for 10 of each. While at the high-end of the wearable market, its also possibly the most effective device out there. It actually does something for you rather than make you do something for yourself.

While the first generation of Thync is undeniably a revolution in terms of how we think about computer-human-health interaction, future generations will fundamentally change the way we live and work.

The company is working on specific applications, such as to improve memory function and as therapy for depression. While it wouldn’t disclose such plans, only generally saying its looking at other applications, these areas are some of the most popular of the DIY tDCS crowd.

Over the next five years you can expect to see these devices fly off the shelves, as people look to gain an edge at work or school or generally just feel better.

It may even lead to the first digital drug, which provides the high of narcotics through simple, gentle and safe electrical currents.

Their first product is now available at thync.com to U.S. customers.

Facebook Tweaks News Feed To Bury Friend Content, Increase Ads

Finance

Facebook loves fiddling with its News Feed algorithm. The company, now stocked with ex-Googler’s the search giant didn’t want, has always tried to tweak its news feed to get the engagement Google does with its ad products.

That engagement translates into easy billions for Google so naturally Facebook wants to do the same.

On Friday Facebook announced its latest change, in which the company will now scan the amount of time someone spends reading a given post on the site and app.

This means that posts that aren’t looked at by everyone will be shunned and pushed further down Facebook’s News Feed page.

The ad network characterized the latest change as a way of showing “the content that matters to you.”

Yet in reality this just translates to bumping the content that matters to Facebook’s real customers: advertisers.

Different stories matter to different people. Facebook has always been about mass lists of friends – its common for people to have over 1000 of their not-so closest friends on the service.

A photo of say, a new house you bought or a baby or something that happened at school, will likely only appeal to a very small subset of those friends. Your family will like baby photos and your classmates will like school photos but rarely will you post something that is liked by everyone.

Big corporations with savvy marketing departments, on the other hand, specialize in getting everyone to like their posts.

The net effect of the latest move, then, will be to make Facebook less personal and more of a source for viral news and corporate content, effectively turning it into a stream of bland, no offensive marketing content.

Or, as Facebook PR spinsters put it:

When talking to people about the way they use their News Feed, we’ve found that it’s not as simple as just measuring the number of seconds you spend on each story to understand if that piece of content resonated with you.
Some people may spend 10 seconds on a story because they really enjoy it, while others may spend 10 seconds on a story because they have a slow internet connection.
We’ve discovered that if people spend significantly more time on a particular story in News Feed than the majority of other stories they look at, this is a good sign that content was relevant to them.

The new system will also put greater focus on signals such as “likes” and “comments”, which in turn allow it to, surprise surprise, better target ads.

The moves highlight the reality of Facebook: Despite its deep Google envy, it will never be the clever and profitable tool that Google is, try as it might.

New Texas Law Allows Open Carry Firearms And Guns On College Campuses

News

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday signed legislation that allows licensed Texans to openly tote their handguns in a hip or shoulder holster.

Gov Abbot praised the legislation as a salute to the “genius” of the country’s founding fathers and a strong endorsement of the Second Amendment.

The signing of House Bill 910 by state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, came at a fitting locale: Red’s Indoor Range, a popular gun store and shooting range in Pflugerville.

Abbott also signed legislation later in the day that requires the state’s public universities and colleges to allow handguns on campus buildings and in dorms.

“There is nothing more important in democracy than the voice of the people stepping up and saying ‘We expect the Constitution of the United States of America to be our guiding doctrine,’” he said.

The ceremony came at an opportunistic time for Second Amendment opponents, after a gunman in an armored vehicle opened fire at the Dallas police headquarters and then fled to a local restaurant, where he was shot and killed.

Abbott spoke strongly about the lack of linkage between expanded gun rights in Texas incidents such as the shooting, in which only the gunman was killed.

“The event in Dallas was an isolated incident by someone who had serious mental challenges, as well as a possible criminal background,” he said. “It is no indication whatsoever of empowering people with their Second Amendment right. In fact the contrary is true.”

At the signing Abbott praised the National Rifle Association and its Texas affiliate, the Texas State Rifle Association, who along with GOP lawmakers he said were vital in getting the bill to his desk.

“I don’t think there are any groups in this state, or in this nation, who worked as profoundly to ensure that the Constitution is lived up to,” he said.

Regarding the open carry on college legislation, the governor pointed out that other states with similar measures have had no issues as a result of such laws.

“In general, what we’ve seen in the states that have campus carry, there haven’t been any problems on those campuses,” he said.

That bill, by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, permits students who are 21 years of age and older, with a valid concealed handgun license, to carry their firearms on public campuses.

Private colleges, in a strong endorsement of rights, will be allowed to opt out of the policy.

In addition, public universities and colleges will be able to establish rules on where handguns can be carried and how they must be stored.

“I think that the way the Legislature worked this out [that] we will see that campus carry in the state of Texas will also pose no more problems,” Abbott said.

Is The Obama Administration Stalling On ISIS To Protect Its Legacy?

News

The United States has no strategy for fighting ISIS, according to our Commander In Chief, Barack Obama.

But what if the administration doesn’t want one?

Obama’s most visible and measurable promise when elected to office was a pledge to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to closing down the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.

Most of these have or are close to being complete. Obama has scarcely one year left in office, much of which will be in lame duck status.

His current priorities show this – he’s valiantly pushing for one last gift for his corporate backers, in the form of the Trans Pacific Partnership, after which he’ll likely hit the golf course until November 2016.

But Obama isn’t the only administration official in his twilight years.

Also in the homestretch, of a 41-year U.S. Army career, is Gen. Martin Dempsey, the top military adviser to President Obama.

Allegedly out of fears of war, he counsels patience to the President.

Such counsel includes such wisdom as ‘Give the Iraqis more time to heal their internal divisions and fight their own battles.’

Resist the temptation to grab control of the contest against the Islamic State group.

An enduring victory will take more than military might; it will require a unified Iraq supported by neighbors.

“If we were to take control of this campaign, I mean literally seize control of the campaign, then there’s no doubt in my mind we would probably defeat ISIL on, let’s say, a faster timeline, but at some considerable cost to our young men and women in uniform,” he told U.S. troops Thursday in an aircraft hangar in Naples, Italy, which just so happens to be one of his last overseas trips before finishing his four-year tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Maybe ISIS goes away, maybe they’re defeated militarily, and two years from now another group with another name and another ideology … will just be back,” he said earlier that day.

Yet ISIS grows stronger by the day. As we profiled earlier, Libya, not Iraq, appears to be the most concerning area of ISIS operation, as dozens of terrorists stream into Europe each day, some of whom will eventually make their way to America.

And then there is the very real fact that ISIS is committing attrocities on a scale not seen since the holocaust of World War Two. United Nations estimates put their human rights abuses at over five million in the last year alone. They rape, pillage, destroy world heritage sites and conduct mass executions daily.

Yet while war crimes are committed and terrorists make their way to American soil, the Obama administration and its generals find well articulated reasons to do nothing.

It seems increasingly clear that its politics, not strategy, that are dictating the war against ISIS. Obama, his administration and its generals are attempting to run out the clock, preserve their legacies as ending wars not continuing them, and leaving the problem for the next administration.

But with over a year until a new administration takes office and some months after that before it can possibly formulate a strategy, it appears ISIS now has a two year window to build its empire and prepare terrorist attacks against the United States.

By not acting, Obama is leaving a selfish legacy of inaction and ineptness.

Which perhaps isn’t surprising, given his promises of hope, change and transparency were quickly neglected in favor of the Washington status quo.

Russia And China Have Reportedly Cracked The Encryption On Edward Snowden’s Document Stash

Entertainment News

Reports have emerged Sunday, from ‘Five Eyes’ collaborator Britain, that Russia and China have managed to crack the strong encryption used by Edward Snowden on his stash of top secret U.S. intelligence documents.

In response to the alleged cracking Britain has pulled out agents from live operations in “hostile countries.”

Security service MI6, the British version of the CIA, has removed agents from certain countries, according to unnamed officials at the office of British Prime Minister David Cameron, the Home Office, and security services.

Despite alerting the public to a vast illegal spying operation by U.S. secret police forces, the secrecy-loving Obama administration still wants Snowden to stand trial for disclosing the illegal programs and fleeing the country for Moscow in 2013 when threatened with life in jail.

Russia and China have now both managed to crack the encrypted documents, which contain details of secret intelligence techniques that could allow British and American spies to be identified, the officials said.

However Prime Minister Cameron’s office was quoted as saying that there was “no evidence of anyone being harmed.”

All British intelligence agencies declined to comment on the reports.

The revelations are highly interesting for two reasons.

The first is that if Russia and China can crack Edward Snowden’s encryption it means they can crack virtually any encryption known to mankind. Snowden is a security professional and used extremely strong, military grade, encryption on his trove of documents. Unless he foolishly exposed his key, which seems unlikely, the revelation that both countries can crack such strong encryption is new and highly concerning.

Nearly all encryption used in business and communication is significantly weaker than what Snowden used on his documents.

The second interesting piece, assuming the reports are true and not just propaganda to turn sentiment against Snowden, is that if Russia and China can crack such encryption the United States likely can too.

As the FBI argues for weaker encryption complete with backdoors, which we covered here, the U.S. is able to crack virtually any encryption on the face of the planet if it wants to.

If Snowden’s encryption has indeed been broken by foreign governments, Americans need to vocally argue for much stronger encryption on virtually everything we do.

If we don’t start using such tough encryption, Russia and China will easily steal all of our state and commercial secrets, if they haven’t already.

Date Set For World’s First Human Head Transplant

Health & Wellness

An Italian neurosurgeon has presented plans to perform the world’s first human head transplant by the end of 2017.

Neurosurgeon Dr Sergio Canavero announced his plan at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons in Maryland on Friday, saying he thinks there is a 90 percent chance of success.

The patient will be 30-year-old Russian Valery Spiridonov, who has the muscle-wasting disease Werdnig-Hoffmann.

“Of course there is a margin of risk, I cannot deny that,” Canavero said.

“I made the announcement only when I was pretty sure I could do it.”

Both men have been in regular contact through video chats and believe the controversial procedure is Spiridonov’s best hope.

“If it goes good, I think I will get rid of the limits which I have today and I will be more independent and this will much improve my life,” Spiridonov said.

“We are making a huge step forward in science and I hope it will be OK.”

Canavero points out that few with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease reach adulthood.

“He is a brave man and he is in horrible condition. You have to understand – for him, Western medicine has nothing to offer. Western medicine has failed.”

Canavero won’t be operating alone and will require the support of his highly skilled peers in order to move forward on the operation which is expected to cost around $15 million.

Cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Raymond Dieter, former president of the International College Of Surgeons, said one of the biggest concerns with the surgery was keeping the brain alive during the lengthy operation.

“When you think you are doing a heart transplant, or a kidney transplant, or a liver transplant, you have to cool those organs to give you a longer period of surgical time before you reconnect all the vessels and you start reperfusion,” Dieter said.

“We’ve seen several professors criticizing Dr Canavero’s work but you know, there was criticism for the first heart transplant as well and now it’s commonplace.”

The operation will require a team of more than 100 medical workers and will likely take 36 hours to complete, could take place in either the U.S. or China.

Canavero is planning to carry out the procedure in December 2017.

“I prepared myself not only scientifically, but also psychologically which is equally important in order to tackle all of these attacks from several fronts, in order to justify what you want to do, why you want to do, you have to prepare yourself,” Canavero said.

“This is a frontier, the final frontier. It’s not space. This is it because it has implications that go well beyond religion, culture, the future, everything.”

Dr. Canavero is not the only surgeon in the world working on head transplants. Chinese surgeon Xiaoping Ren has completed over 1000 head transplants on mice, which we covered here, and continues to advance the science behind the complicated procedures. Surgeons also recently transplanted an entire face and a fully functioning penis, showing that with modern medicine what was once the domain of science fiction is quickly becoming a reality.

Iconic 160 Year Old Gunmaker Colt Is On The Verge Of Bankruptcy

Finance

Iconic American gunmaker Colt could be bankrupt within days.

After making guns for over 160 years Colt is struggling financially and missed a $10.9 million interest payment on its debt in May.

Colt admitted though regulatory filings, that this raises “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern” and that it “may seek relief under the bankruptcy code.”

Given its grace period with bondholders expires on June 14th it will now have to find a way to restructure the debt with its bondholders.

Bondholders are understood to be opposed to any pact that forces them to take a loss, the current proposal on the table. That’s because bondholders would likely recover all or most of their money in bankruptcy, assuming that Colt gets sold for enough money to cover the $250 million worth of bonds and another $102 million in other debt.

That could well be possible if a buyer emerges from among its larger rivals such as Smith & Wesson or Sturm Ruger.

Colt’s status in the gun industry and its role in American history are unparalleled.

The West Hartford manufacturer established by Sam Colt is the most famous gunmaker in America and has been since the 1840s, when the Texas Rangers adopted its iconic revolver during their Wild West wars with Native Americans.

Over the years Colt’s guns have been featured in countless Hollywood war movies and action films, used by actors from John Wayne to James Bond.

“The Colt is one of the most powerful guns I’ve ever fired,” wrote Chris Kyle of “American Sniper” fame.

In 1911, building on success of previous Colt weapons, the U.S. Army adopted the radical Colt 1911 semiautomatic .45 caliber pistol as its standard issue side arm. It went on to become one of the most famous guns ever made and was in service by the U.S. military for over 80 years.

Yet recently, sales have declined.

Weak leadership and lack of modernization

Compact and light handgun sales across the industry are up in recent years. Colt compact models like the Mustang and the Defender are not as well liked as those made by rival Glock. American police mostly carry Glocks, which are known for being lightweight yet can hold high capacity magazines.

The company still makes a wide variety of weapons for the military, including the AR-15, the M-16, the M4, and the M203 grenade launcher but the military is no longer the cash cow it once was as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.

The result is that the fate of an American icon hangs in the balance and will be determined by bankers and creditors in the coming weeks.

The U.S. Navy Is Getting Another New Aircraft Carrier

News

China is getting its own fleet of aircraft carriers. The belligerent communist nation has begun operating a modified Russian carrier on the open seas, developing procedures and know-how it will then apply to a fleet of Chinese designed carriers that will launch over the next decade.

China will become just the third nation to use the powerful naval weapons yet have the second largest carrier fleet once its build-out is finished.

The U.S. Navy is not sitting idly by.

The Navy announced on Friday that it awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. a $4 billion contract to start building the second Ford class next generation super-carrier. Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall issued a decision memo for the Navy to start with the detailed design and construction of CVN-79, the USS John F. Kennedy, and also make the necessary down payment on the third carrier of the $42.8 billion program.

The Ford class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will help the U.S. Navy to maintain its dominance of the seas. The new ship uses the basic Nimitz-class hull form but features a new nuclear reactor design, stealthier features to help reduce radar profile, electromagnetic catapults, advanced arresting gear, and reduced crewing requirements.

All these features permit it to generate about 25% more aircraft sorties per day and providing more electrical power for supporting ship systems. Though not disclosed, its likely the new carriers will feature some of the most advanced information warfare systems in the U.S. Military.

Another feature the Navy isn’t openly discussing but will be a reality is drone warfare. Having just completed carrier trials of the advanced X-47B stealth drone, its a certainty that the new ships will become home to America’s growing drone fleet. Over the twenty plus years the carrier will be in service its likely it may do more drone work than manned flight, a key to combating Chinese military ambition.

All the advanced technology will allow the ship to run with several hundred fewer sailors than a Nimitz-class ship, which will significantly reduce life-cycle operating and support costs.

The second carrier of the 10 vessel order will cost about $11.498 billion, keeping it within a cap set by the Congress, though the independent cost-assessment office of the Pentagon has estimated that the ship will exceed the budget cap by at least $370 million. Congress would likely approve such an overrun – carriers are uncontroversial defense expenditures and enjoy wide support on both sides of the aisle.

An order for the fourth ship in the series is expected to be placed in 2018, with the next ships commissioned every few years after.

ISIS Has Completely Overrun Libya And Is Now Flooding Europe With Agents

Entertainment News

Islamic State terrorists are now using Libya ‎as an “entry point” into Europe, with Libyan intelligence officials reporting that at least 30 ISIS fighters who left the country have been apprehended by Italian authorities in recent weeks.

The terrorists all claimed refugee status but American ‎and European officials believe this is an indication that ISIS terrorists are now making their way into Europe virtually untouched.

“There is no way you can block it,” an official told reporters. “Libya is now an easy entry point into the EU and ultimately into the U.S. for ISIS. They are saying, this is the way to America.”

One special forces operator in the region called Libya “a new ISIS route to the West.” A congressional source confirmed that the Libyan government, which controls little in the country, has easily captured ISIS fighters crossing into Italy. Its likely they are streaming over the border each day given how little of the country is controlled by Libyan forces.

President Obama, despite authorizing 450 additional U.S. troops to deploy to Iraq, has admitted his administration does not have a strategy to deal with ISIS. Its present focus on ISIS operations in Syria and Iraq may be dangerously overlooking Libya, which is actually the most unstable country in the region and presents ISIS with its best opportunity for entry to the West.

Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ron Johnson, R-Wis., blasted the administration.

“This administration continues to deny reality and fails to adequately convey to the American people the severity of the security situation throughout the Middle East and the resulting threats America faces,” he said.

The Libyan port city of Sirte, which lies on the Mediterranean between Benghazi and Tripoli, was observed flying the black flag of ISIS last week and now appears to be under ISIS control. The militants control the airfield, forming a supply line just like they did in Iraq when they captured the city of Mosul.

Sources on the ground in Libya also report that hard drugs are now rampant in the country, sold by children on virtually every street corner. The drugs have been brought by outsiders who’ve come into the country freely, highlighting how porous the border is.

The country now appears to be part of a drug route into Europe and eventually the United States, with supply coming from Afghanistan and even South America. While prior to the overthrow drugs weren’t popular in the country and were frowned upon, “all that has changed drastically as people and militias need money.”

One longtime intelligence agent who works in the region said that “Oil and drugs are how the militias are getting their money to fund their terrorism and America should be very concerned.”

Libya has been in a downward spiral since Muammar Qaddafi was killed in 2011. Two of his sons are being held in the country, facing the death penalty and most of the country is lawless. There are no border controls in place, airspace is unmonitored and the country has become the crime hub.

“It has become a huge problem,” said an international intelligence specialist working inside the country. “There is no more trust for the Americans anymore.”

There’s a strong argument by experts that if United States puts boots back on the ground in the region, it shouldn’t be in Iraq or Syria “where ISIS can be somewhat contained,” but in uncontrolled Libya.

“Everyone is now going to Libya. Terrorists are coming from all over because they can move freely and the U.S. really has nobody on the ground there. The Americans and West need to open their eyes,” said one source fresh from a trip to the country. “Libya is a mess and much worse than Iraq. ISIS has very good command-and-control building in Libya.”

One international intelligence officer was bewildered as to why there are no operations planned in Libya. “When and where will this stop? When will western powers open their minds and see that this is happening on the ground?” he said. “The West is underestimating ISIS and its military tactics. These guys are much more trained and much more dangerous than Al Qaeda ever was, and nobody is paying attention to Libya.”

Clearly there is much pressure on the U.S. to act, yet the Obama administration seems more concerned with preserving the President’s legacy of withdrawing troops rather than looking out for the long-term best interests of the nation.