Trump’s holiday gift is more invasive airport security

"On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump derided the Transportation Security Administration as a 'total disaster.' But his administration is making TSA more intrusive and abusive while its 42,000 screeners remain as incompetent as ever. New TSA screening guidelines will likely make Thanksgiving travel a disaster for legions of Americans — and the worst is yet to come."

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Paul Craig Roberts: Who Gets to Push the Nuclear Button?

"The purpose of diplomacy is to prevent war. However, ever since the Clinton regime attacked Serbia, US diplomacy has been used to cause wars. During the 16-years of George W. Bush and Obama the US destroyed in whole or part seven countries, killing and maiming millions of peoples and producing millions of refugees. Not a single one of these wars was justified. Everyone of these wars was based in lies. Before launching each of these acts of unprovoked aggression, Washington demonized the leader of the country. To get rid of one person, Washington did not flinch at murdering large numbers of people and destroying the infrastructure of the country. This tells you that Washington has no morality. None. Zilch. Therefore, Washington is capable of launching a preemptive nuclear strike."

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Why Didn’t “60 Minutes” Mention The U.S. Is Fueling the Yemen Conflict?

"The program featured imagery of starving children and interviews with displaced people, all obtained after Saudi Arabia blocked '60 Minutes' from entering the country. The program did not once mention that Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally, and that U.S. support is essential for the Saudi campaign to continue. For two-and-a-half years, the U.S. government has backed Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen every step of the way. The United States has dispatched warships to reinforce the blockade. It has refueled Saudi planes, sent the Saudi military targeting intelligence, and resupplied them with tens of billions of dollars worth of bombs."

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Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Erroneously Reinvented the Union

Yesterday in 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address, a speech commonly considered one of the most recognized and commonly recited pieces of English text. Truthfully, Lincoln’s oratory served as an erroneous reinvention of the union that conflicted greatly with the widespread understanding reached during the time of the founding generation. While Lincoln declared…

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First Long-Term LedgerX Bitcoin Option Pegs Price at $10,000

"Called a Long-Term Equity Anticipation Security (LEAPS), the trade was matched by the platform this morning and is set to expire on December 28, 2018. Such long term futures options have long been seen in the industry as a much needed sign of maturity, and could in part help pave the way for even more institutional money to enter the space."

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China’s Record Yield Curve Inversion “Spells Disaster”

"The Chinese yield curve has now been inverted for 10 straight days - the longest period of inversion ever. Qin Han, chief fixed-income analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co., doesn’t mince his words when it comes to the rout in Chinese bonds. 'Considering the pace of the slump, which is very fast, it’s fair to say we are likely in a bond disaster...'"

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The Black Swan In Plain Sight—Debt Out The Wazoo

"Washington has suspended it way into a $5.7 trillion increase in the public debt in just six years since October 2011. That is, during a period which supposedly constitutes the third longest business expansion in US history. At the end of the day, you can't borrow your way to prosperity. That's the oldest rule in the book of sound money and sustainable finance. And it's about ready to be learned all over again."

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The Ponzi scheme that’s more than 100x the size of Bernie Madoff

"Credit-rating agency Moody’s estimates state, federal and local government pensions are $7 trillion short in funding. And corporate pension funds are underfunded by $375 billion. One of the big drivers behind this is that investment returns are way too low. Today with government bonds yielding 3% or less (and in some cases bond yields are NEGATIVE), they aren’t achieving their targets. One or two years with sub-optimal investment returns is not catastrophic. But it’s been like this now for a decade. And that’s just problem #1. Problem #2 is that the ratio between workers and retirees is moving in the wrong direction."

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