Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has threatened to reinstate border checks against Germany as Mother Merkel's German government finds itself increasingly fractured domestically and isolated internationally (archived).
US Supreme Courts Mentions But Does Not Influence Bitcoin – Covetous Bryer Abuses Language Suggesting Taxman Steal A Bit More
Bitcoin has been mentioned for the first time in the US Supreme court decision 'Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States' on the the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937 (archived). In a decision which determined that stock options are not cash compensation, Stephen Breyer dissented and attempted to weasel that stock options are equivalent to cash with:
Does a stock option received by an employee (along with, say, a paycheck) count as a “form”—some form, “any form”—of “money remuneration?” The railroads, as the majority notes, believe they can find the answer to this question by engaging in (and winning) a war of 1930’s dictionaries. I am less sanguine. True, some of those dictionaries say that “money” primarily refers to currency or promissory documents used as “a medium of exchange.” See ante, at 2–3. But even this definition has its ambiguities. A railroad employee cannot use her paycheck as a “medium of exchange.” She cannot hand it over to a cashier at the grocery store; she must first deposit it. The same is true of stock, which must be converted into cash and deposited in the employee’s account before she can enjoy its monetary value. Moreover, what we view as money has changed over time. Cowrie shells once were such a medium but no longer are, see J. Weatherford, The History of Money 24 (1997); our currency originally included gold coins and bullion, but, after 1934, gold could not be used as a medium of exchange, see Gold Reserve Act of 1934, ch. 6, §2, 48 Stat. 337; perhaps one day employees will be paid in Bitcoin or some other type of cryptocurrency, see F. Martin, Money: The Unauthorized Biography— From Coinage to Cryptocurrencies 275–278 (1st Vintage Books ed. 2015). Nothing in the statute suggests the meaning of this provision should be trapped in a monetary time warp, forever limited to those forms of money commonly used in the 1930’s.
The single mention of the word 'Bitcoin' has generated substantial headlines, but the real story here is how far Breyer is willing to go in an effort to help the criminal gang in Washington DC pick a few more pockets.
Clinton Through Obama Era 'Family Separation' Policy Ended By Trump Executive Order
Today US President Donald Trump ended a Bill Clinton era policy separating children from their adult family members when those adults are determined to have been entering the United States without legal authorization (archived). Since a 1997 settlement entered into by the Clinton administration disallowed holding children in "immigration jails" for more than 20 days, children have been separated from their families and moved to separate facilities run by the US Department of "Health and Human Services". Those facilities for detaining children while jail-like are simply not called "immigration jails" to comply with terms of the settlement.
In the past weeks this 21 year old policy decision undone today by President Trump's executive order has becoming an increasingly loud propaganda point for pansuitist social engineers that painted the Bill Clinton family separation policy as a Trump policy.
As a result of Trump's executive order children will still be detained, but with their families. In facilities that thanks to the 1997 settlement are still likely to be referred to as something other as "immigration jails".
After Months Of Whispers Schulte Charged For Espionage Act Violations
After months of whispering and leaks, US prosecutors charged Joshua Schulte with violations of the espionage act. At this time it is impossible to tell if criminal organization masquerading as the US Department of Justice actually has anymore "evidence" of a crime than it did when rumours that they wanted to but couldn't actually charge Schulte emerged earlier.
US Looks To Foreign Turboprops To Solve Close Air Support Dilemma
The ongoing delays associated with the US F-35 "Joint Strike Fighter" and dwindling numbers of airworthy A-10 combat aircraft has the US looking at a major procurement of lightly armored turboprop aircraft to fill their close air support role (archived). Options being considered include the Brazilian Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and the Beechcraft AT-6B trainer. This move represents a step towards bringing the US aircraft fleet closer in capability to American regional powers Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
Harvard Exposed Systemically Discriminating Against Asian Applicants
Harvard University has been exposed engaging in systemic discrimination against Asian applicants in the name of "diversity" (archived). According to the internal report from 2013, 43 percent of Harvard's freshman class would have been Asian if they University had adhered to strict qualifications based admissions criteria. To prevent that outcome the University's admissions office increased the weight of subjective criteria like "personality" as part of an organized effort to marginalize Asian applicants.
South Koreans Admit Racist Treachery In Lead Up To World Cup Play
South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong admited that during low stakes games before the World Cup he had a number of his players switch uniform numbers in order to thwart scouting efforts by competitors (archived). The coach cited Western white folk's inability to "distinguish between Asians" as cause to believe in the effectiveness of the tactic.
Man Extradited To US Over Silk Road Allegations After 2.5 Year Wait In Thai Jail
Canadian citizen Roger Clark has been extradited to the US1 over allegations he allegedly mentored Dread Pirate Roberts, operator of the late Silk Road darknet market (archived). The FBI and their criminal co-conspirators allege Clark under the alias 'Variety Jones' gave advice to a young man on the internet.
A location which is neither Canada nor Thailand ↩
British Court Places Rappers Under Musical Court Supervision For 3 Years
A court in Britain has imposed restrictions on a group of young 'Drill Rap' musicians (archived). The five young men have been ordered to inform police every time they release new music, and they have been barred from mentioning death, violence, or injury in their songs or social media postings.
German Government Divided As Interior Minister Decides To Skip Migrant Integration Summit
German interior minister Horst Seehofer has decided not to participate in an "Integration Summit" hosted by Mother Merkel in a growing internal dispute over Germany's border policies (archived). Seehofer has opposed Mother Merkel's demand that no migrants be denied entry to Germany, even if the migrants are caught in the act of entering illegally. Meanwhile Merkel is calling for a unified approach to the Migrant problem, chastizing the rest of the continent that:
Italy did not feel it was receiving sufficient support from other European Union states. (archived)
Earlier this week the new Italian Interior Minister closed all of the country's ports to a human trafficking vessel which intended to ferry more than 600 African clients from Libyan waters to Italy. Spain eventually decided to extend the vessel an invitation to offload its human cargo.