Yearly Archives: 2013

How to Use Sex Like a Russian Spy

"If a Romeo wants to recruit women, Wolf told Melton once, 'you don't go to them, have them come to you. You become the center of the party, you buy the drinks, you tell the jokes. You're the life of the party. She will come to you. And then naturally that will make it easier.' The next step in East Germany's playbook was to escalate the relationship. The agent would propose marriage and later reveal to his wife that he was a spy -- but for a friendly country (like Canada!). The finishing touch was for the agent to explain that he would have to be recalled, ruining their precious relationship, unless the wife could cough up some information to satisfy the bosses back home." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald: U.S. should be ‘on its knees begging’ that nothing happens to Snowden

"'Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,' said Greenwald. “The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.' Snowden is currently working with Russian authorities to secure temporary asylum in that country. He said Friday that U.S. officials are blocking every effort he makes to seek safe passage to any place that will not extradite him into U.S. custody." Continue reading →

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Justice Department backs off on secret seizure of reporters’ records

"Under heavy criticism from media organizations and others, the Obama administration has pulled back on one important aspect of its crackdown on government leaks: the ability of prosecutors to secretly seize reporters' records while investigating leaks to the media. In an announcement Friday, the Justice Department said it is toughening the guidelines for subpoenaing reporters' phone records while also raising the standard the government needs to meet before it can issue search warrants to gather reporters' email." Continue reading →

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Loophole lets Colorado lawmakers avoid photo radar fines

"A loophole in state law has allowed Colorado state senators and representatives to avoid photo radar tickets because of special treatment given to lawmakers when they get license plates. Most license plates are issued to specific vehicles. But license plates for lawmakers are issued to individuals and aren't registered in state computers. The city has an aggressive photo radar program that sends out millions of dollars in photo radar tickets every year. However, police have not been able to send citations to legislators whose cars carry the special plates." Continue reading →

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The Hidden Edge of Junior Mining Companies

"The problem with investing in natural resource projects, says Rick Rule, is that there’s a very low chance of success for any individual property. 'When I was in university, some forty years ago, the experts claimed that roughly one in three thousand mineralized anomalies (exploration targets) would become a mine,' Rick explained. 'With those odds of success, any particular property has a pretty slim chance of being worth something. The way people are successful in this business is by identifying the opportunities with the best characteristics – and having the ability to quickly figure out what’s in the ground.'" Continue reading →

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Fed Puzzle: The Massive Collapse in Money Velocity

"With the velocity of money plummeting, it's clear that something in the fractional reserve banking system is broken -- the money remains trapped in the financial system. Yet another indicator of this is the Fed's Money Multiplier, or an indicator of how the money injected in the banking system is multiplied by lending and economic activity. That's reached new lows recently too, indicating that the fractional reserve system is not living up to expectations. This means that traders with access to large amounts of cheap trading capital can continue to make big bets as the Fed supports their access to capital -- but small businesses can't get the same access to capital." Continue reading →

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Ben Bernanke as Easter Bunny: Why the Fed Can’t Prevent the Coming Crash

"If you use a zero percent return, it's easy to figure out how much you need to save. If you want to work for 30 years, and live in retirement for 30 years, then you should save 50 percent. If you want to work for 40 years, and live in retirement for 10 years, you should save 25 percent. And so on. Over the last two decades or so, savings rates have ranged from single digits to slightly negative. In rough terms, zero percent. So as a nation, we have essentially no savings and face very low future returns. The inference is simple: We will need to increase savings drastically." Continue reading →

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Decorated, wounded Marine treated ‘shamefully’ by TSA screeners

"Kemnitz, severely injured in 2004 in a roadside bomb attack in Fallujah, has limited use of his right arm and cannot lift it above his head. So when security guards at the state capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., asked him to remove his dress blue blouse 'because he was wearing too much metal,' and TSA asked him to raise his arms above his head for the full-body scanner at Sacramento International Airport, he could not comply. At the state capitol, the Marine’s refusal to remove his uniform top grew into a heated exchange between Kemnitz, a friend who was accompanying him and security officers." Continue reading →

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Parents now face hard consequences for leaving kids in car

"By the time Christina Moon pulled up to her local J.C. Penney to make a return after a morning of errands, her 4-year-old daughter was engrossed in a film in the back of the family’s SUV. So when it came time to go inside the store, the girl protested. The mom has since been investigated by Child Protective Services and faces a $500 fine and 93 days in jail. Moon has pleaded guilty in the case, so she has to pay $2,000 in court costs in addition to any fine. Jail time is a possibility, though she is hoping she will get probation when she is sentenced on July 23." Continue reading →

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