Jim Rogers: “Thank Goodness” For Gold’s Correction

"Kitco News asks Jim Rogers his take of current events like Deutsche Bank's new gold depository in Singapore and the two new Chinese ETPs. Rogers also talks about how India's Finance Minister Chidambaram repeatedly urges the public to stop buying gold, stating heavy gold imports hurt the Indian economy. Finally, Rogers says that the gold correction in April was necessary for gold to avoid an even worse crash. Despite the April selloff, Rogers is still purchasing gold, silver, platinum and palladium. In regards to Roubini's bearish comments on gold earlier this month, Rogers says he'll ignore those predictions. Kitco News, June 17, 2013." Continue reading

Continue ReadingJim Rogers: “Thank Goodness” For Gold’s Correction

Now India Joins The Western Snoops

"India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance program that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said. The expanded surveillance in the world's most populousdemocracy, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive U.S. digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furor." Continue reading

Continue ReadingNow India Joins The Western Snoops

Edward Snowden and the Wolf Who Cried Plant

"At some point, an emerging police state stops trying to hide or justify its nastiness and starts emphasizing and flaunting that nastiness — although it may do so subtly or indirectly instead of openly. Its minions no longer worry about convincing you they’re right. They’re content to just bully, threaten and scare you into submission. Naomi Wolf’s hypothesis is that the Snowden revelations may be an intentional instance of the latter — perhaps timed to distract attention from the trial of real whistleblower Bradley Manning — rather than an accidental failure of the former. Is she right? I don’t know. But the idea is far from outrageous, and should be taken seriously." Continue reading

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden and the Wolf Who Cried Plant

Can Swiss Human Rights Withstand IRS Extraterritorial Tax Enforcement?

"Switzerland is being persecuted for being a productive, peaceful nation that has a strong human rights policy with regards to privacy. More specifically, politicians from high-tax nations resent the fact that investors flock to Switzerland to benefit from good policies, and they are pressuring the Swiss government to weaken that nation’s human rights laws so that governments with bad fiscal systems have an easier time of tracking and taxing flight capital. But I’m not opening champagne just yet. The Swiss have resisted American demands before, and on more than one occasion, only to eventually back down." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCan Swiss Human Rights Withstand IRS Extraterritorial Tax Enforcement?

Associated Press CEO: Sources will no longer speak to us because of phone monitoring

"The US government’s secret seizure of Associated Press phone records had a 'chilling effect' on newsgathering by the agency and other news organizations, AP’s top executive said Wednesday. 'Some longtime trusted sources have become nervous and anxious about talking with us,' AP president and chief executive Gary Pruitt said in a speech to the National Press Club. 'In some cases, government employees we once checked in with regularly will no longer speak to us by phone. Others are reluctant to meet in person … Journalists from other news organizations have personally told me that it has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to them as well.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingAssociated Press CEO: Sources will no longer speak to us because of phone monitoring

WikiLeaks: Journalist Michael Hastings Under FBI Investigation Before Death

"The document-leaking organization WikiLeaks says journalist Michael Hastings called the organization's attorney hours before his death Tuesday in a fiery one-car crash in Los Angeles. Hastings, 33, was known as a hard-charging reporter who caused Gen. Stanley McChrystal to lose his job as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan with an explosive 2010 story in Rolling Stone, in which he quoted McChrystal offering unsavory commentary about the Obama administration. In his final article, Hastings wrote of revelations that the NSA was harvesting large quantities of phone and Internet information. The FBI declined to say if Hastings was under investigation." Continue reading

Continue ReadingWikiLeaks: Journalist Michael Hastings Under FBI Investigation Before Death

Famed Non-Automotive Journalist Michael Hastings Turns A C250 Into A “Bomb”

"I’m not here to speak ill of the dead. I’m here to state that I’ve seen dozens of cars hit walls and stuff at high speeds and the number of them that I have observed to eject their powertrains and immediately catch massive fire is, um, ah, zero. Modern cars are very good at not catching fire in accidents. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is an evolutionary design from a company known for sweating the safety details over and above the Euro NCAP requirements, should be leading the pack in the not-catching-on-fire category. Nor is the C-Class known for sudden veering out of control into trees and whatnot." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFamed Non-Automotive Journalist Michael Hastings Turns A C250 Into A “Bomb”

Michael Hastings’ Final Article Before Car Explosion: ‘Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans’

"For most bigwig Democrats in Washington, D.C., the last 48 hours has delivered news of the worst kind — a flood of new information that has washed away any lingering doubts about where President Obama and his party stand on civil liberties, full stop. Glenn Greenwald’s exposure of the NSA’s massive domestic spy program has revealed the entire caste of current Democratic leaders as a gang of civil liberty opportunists, whose true passion, it seems, was in trolling George W. Bush for eight years on matters of national security. 'Everyone should just calm down,' Senator Harry Reid said yesterday, inhaling slowly. That’s right: don’t panic." Continue reading

Continue ReadingMichael Hastings’ Final Article Before Car Explosion: ‘Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans’

FBI knew earlier of Boston bombing suspect Tsarnaev

"Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to the attention of the FBI on at least two occasions prior to a Russian government warning in March 2011 that said he appeared to be radicalizing, FBI Director Robert Mueller said in Congressional testimony this week. The earlier references have led some lawmakers to question whether the FBI acted too quickly in closing an assessment of Tsarnaev's potential ties to terrorism done in response to the Russian request." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFBI knew earlier of Boston bombing suspect Tsarnaev

Central Bank Injects Cash After China Money Rates Jump to Records

"The People’s Bank of China added 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) to the financial system today after a cash squeeze drove money-market rates to record highs. The sum was supplied to a single lender through 'targeted liquidity operations' and more banks were in talks to obtain financing. A PBOC press official said he was unaware of the matter. Bank of China Ltd. announced on its microblog that it made all payments on time today and has never had a capital default. A spokesman for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. declined to comment on whether the lender received any financing from the central bank." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCentral Bank Injects Cash After China Money Rates Jump to Records