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Fmr. NSA chief: Snowden defenders ‘20-somethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex’

“‘If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?’ said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to ‘nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex in five or six years’. ‘I’m just trying to illustrate that you’ve got a group of people out there who make demands, whose demands may not be satisfiable, may not be rational, from other points of view, may not be the kinds of things that government can accommodate,’ Hayden said.” Continue reading →

Britain considers life in prison for owners of ‘killer dogs’

“Owners of dogs that kill people could face life imprisonment if an online consultation run by the government demonstrates public support for more severe penalties. Public response will be one – but not necessarily the decisive – factor in shaping changes that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) plans to make to the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act. Some 16 people have been killed by dangerous dogs since 2005. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents postmen and women and telecoms engineers, who suffer around 5,000 dog attacks each year, welcomed the consultation.” Continue reading →

What’s in the Vault?

“The request represented less than 5% of all the gold that the Fed officially holds in its New York vaults. (Interestingly, an earlier request by Germany to inspect its assets was denied by the Fed). Despite the relatively small request (relative to the total holdings), repatriation is expected by 2020. Perhaps for fear that she may be ‘persuaded’ to accept being ‘cash-settled’ with U.S. dollars in lieu of gold, Germany dared not complain. The letter issued on April 1, 2013 by Dutch State-owned ABN-AMRO bank to holders of paper claims to gold and silver held in its vaults advised that any physical metal custodied at the bank would in the future be ‘cash-settled’.” Continue reading →

The Future of Transportation

“The Hyperloop is a futuristic form of travel, whereby passengers will be blasted to their destinations in ultra-high-speed pneumatic vacuum tubes. It’s not exactly teleportation… but it’s pretty darn close. We’re talking about traveling at speeds of up to 4,000 mph. Shooting from the East Coast to the West Coast in less than an hour will be doable. In keeping with his entrepreneurial spirit (Musk co-founded PayPal and is co-founder and CEO of electric car company Tesla Motors and private spaceflight company SpaceX), he wants partners who share his vision of ‘breakthrough tech done fast without wasting money on BS.'” Continue reading →

How payday lenders pop back up even after states crack down

“The products reflect a basic fact: Many low-income borrowers are desperate enough to accept any terms. In a recent Pew Charitable Trusts survey, 37 percent of payday loan borrowers responded that they’d pay any price for a loan. In 2012, New Hampshire joined states like Georgia and Arizona that have banned triple-digit-rate payday loans but allow similarly structured triple-digit-rate auto-title loans. And as in Ohio, Texas lenders started defining themselves as credit repair organizations, which, under Texas law, can charge steep fees. Texas now has nearly 3,500 of such businesses, almost all of which are, effectively, high-cost lenders.” Continue reading →

Golden trail: Dubai to Chennai via Delhi

“Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths on the trail of 16kg gold boarded the Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani Express when it neared the outskirts of the city and followed the smugglers all the way to city before seizing the contraband and arresting four people, including two Sri Lankans, on Friday. Investigators intercepted the train when it reached Gummidipoondi railway station and boarded it. They identified the smugglers and tailed them to a house at Kodambakkam where they delivered the consignment. This is the second major seizure since March when DRI caught a senior diplomat from the UAE for allegedly smuggling 37kg gold jewellery.” Continue reading →

New Silver Liberty Dollar QR Coin Obtains Live Bitcoin Prices

“Vaughn Perling had the courage to issue The New Liberty Dollar with a strikingly similar appearance to that of the NORFED Liberty Dollar while von NotHaus was awaiting sentencing on counterfeiting and fraud charges. However, Vaughn Perling added a disclaimer to his website that the purchaser acknowledges that The New Liberty Dollar is a ‘silver piece medallion, and not any government issued coin.’ The new QR engraved medallions enable a user of the coin to obtain real-time ‘manufacturer’s suggested trade value’ which is based on the silver spot market price. The price will be in Bitcoin as well as other crypto and national currencies.” Continue reading →

Bill Bonner: What does money represent?

“Higher wages do not get you anywhere if prices rise too. What you really need is higher productivity. How do you get that? You need to save money (rather than spend it) and invest in things that produce more…thus providing the profits necessary to pay more to the people who produce it. Really. Is that so difficult to understand? For the last 42 years, the feds have encouraged Americans to spend their money, rather than save it. And they’ve encouraged people to buy things made by foreigners, rather than make things themselves. This was the consequence (perhaps unintended) of Richard Nixon’s pure paper money system.” Continue reading →